Meet Ulysses: Official Plant Of The Bay Ridge Odyssey Blog

I followed through on a threat that I made a couple of weeks ago in discussing the Bay Ridge Festival of the Arts – I bought a plant at the festival’s spring plant sale benefiting the Guild For Exceptional Children. On the surface, you may not think that constitutes much of a threat, unless you have seen what happens to plants in my care. They die. Horribly.

Once, growing up, I managed to let a cactus die. More recently, I grew/tortured the Charlie Brown Christmas tree of tomato plants, with a small, sad little tomato making the whole thing droop like that Charles Schultz icon.

But I swore to you that this little plant will be cared for. This little plant will thrive. Accomplish great things! Readers: I want you to meet Ulysses, the new Official Plant of the Bay Ridge Odyssey Blog.

Ulysses is a geranium. I know this because the person who sold it said so, not because of any ability I have to identify plants. Amazing how the ability to recite all of the Doctor’s time-traveling companions since Sarah Jane Smith without Googling them doesn’t translate into the ability to tell a geranium from… some other kind of plant. It’s not a relative of uranium, that’s all I’m really sure of.

I named Ulysses because I thought it would be cool if a web site called Odyssey had a mascot named Ulysses. I also did it in the hopes that personalizing him would make me less likely to allow him to die.

Maybe when he’s older and a little more grown up (he’s supposed to be transferred to a bigger pot in about a month), he can come out to parties and meet the readers of the site. Until then, you can follow Ulysses on our Facebook page. He has his own photo album. You can Like the page here.