When I used to belong to "Curves", there was this poor, neglected plant there that was slowly dying of thirst. So, I would water it with my Poland Spring water.

I see so many plants in Dr's offices, places of business, etc and always wonder how so many people there cannot see how the plant is suffering from lack of water. I always notice that right away.

In answer to your question...Yes...

A few years ago, Home Depot had several, newly shipped Crown of Thorns, wrapped in foil.

Each were soaked, drowning, and the odor was terrible.

I went from Crown to Crown emptying water from the foil.

Other times I've removed dead leaves.

Don't think managers like seeing a customer tending to plants..lol.. Toni

Toni, I keep finding that situation at WM and when I have time, I dump them out too.

I often find my Mom's pots with water sitting in the saucer and definitely dump those out. She has a policy against going along with about anything I say, so I gave up mentioning it.

I have definitely watered thirsty plants in public, and sometimes ask about them, like in a restaurant or Dr. office, if anybody has noticed it's thirsty. Offer to give it a sip. A good opportunity to start a discussion with whoever wants to talk about it.

When I visit DH's Mom, I almost always end up picking dead leaves off of some plant. She doesn't enjoy that kind of thing and I do.

But technically, I can't say that I've done anything secretly. Being ignored or just not noticed if there is no attempt to hide doesn't count as secret, I think.

Purple, I hear you.

The night I dumped water from the foil of COT's...the manager caught me, so guess you could say it was done secretly.
Although I MEANT for them to see..
Since I made a huge puddle on the floor, along came an employee..lol
I attempted to explain to the manager/s about water and COT's, but he/they couldn't care less..
A wk or so later I returned..not to one, but two HD's. There had to be 100 dead Crowns...at the same cost..sheesh! What does it take?

To be honest, the closest Walmart takes better care of plants than HD. And HD has a green house, Walmart doesn't.

Yep, fiddling with others' plants doesn't make them happy campers. lol. There goes a demerit w/your MIL..lol

My mother NEVER liked or allowed plants in the house. One time, I made up a small terrarium to give to her.
I explained it needed infrequent waterings, blah blah.
I went to her house a couple wks later, and there she stood, holding the terrarium under the faucet, water running full!
Looked more like a Betta container than terrarium.

Grant, forgot to say, fertilizer isn't medicine. I'd usually say not to try perking up a house plant with it, but a rose might benefit from some weak (half or less strength according to package directions) fertilizer. But I would be extremely hesitant to encourage any guerrilla fertilizing, and especially at this time of year.

Who's responsible for this plant? If you ask the owner if they know the name of their pretty rose, it may strike up a good conversation... You noticed how pretty it was, and maybe thirsty, yada yada... It would be good to ask. What if it happened to have been given too MUCH fertilizer recently? Maybe it was watered too much and has been designated to become very dry before watering again. I'm not sure after reading your post again if you mean the actual flower was droopy, or the whole plant. The flower may have just been at the end of its' display if you were just talking about the bloom. Each flower only lasts a few days.

Toni, your Mom and mine sound similar although there were plants in the house when I was a kid, not now. I took a milk crate full of beautiful Perilla cuttings over there the other day, assuming it would be OK for them to sit in her abundant windows for winter. Wrong, I ended up bringing them back home. Hmmmph!

My mother told me when I was a little girl, 'I had to be young because I would have remembered,' she grew a yam in water.

My father hated the smell of flowers, said they reminded him of a funeral home.

But, I assume he never sniffed blooms other than Easter Lily..which in a way reminds me of wakes, too.

Roses..I gave up trying to over-winter dwarf roses indoors..they're mite magnets.
Their flowers are so beautiful, but not worth taking the risk. They do fine outdoors.

Purple, i know, i wasn't gona go overboard with the fertilizer i was going to give it some half deluited fertilizer, it has some yellow leaves with green veins, which is a iron deficiency.

Good stuff. Investigate a little more to discover that fertilizer isn't the solution to this, it's most likely a PH issue.

Oh yes!

At the mall, I will actually get a cup of water and water the limp dry plants I am in love with. I even brought a bottle of Neem Oil with me and squirted a tree I saw loaded with mites..lol

At work, I walked out with a beautiful Dracanea braided plant that was left for dead and turned it around.

I even went to Lowe's the other day and saw how they were letting their most beautiful round balled Citrus aroma fir trees dry out so bad that the edges were turning brown, still at 24 dollars a pop, and took their hose I saw lying around and watered them, secretly of course...lol

Mike

My Next door neighbor had some palms put in when she saw mine in my backyard. Sorry to say, that she thought that once they were put in that they would be perfect and she wouldn's have to do anything to them. She asked me several times what to do and i would give her a good long explanation on how to care for these palms and then she once asked if i would care for them.. well, i kindly said that i already had a job doing other things and when you buy these types of palms, you have to take care of them until they bcome established.. OK.,, she didnt water them.

I watched as they slowly declined and i would go over to her house when she was gone to water them I would swear they would smile at me. They likes this silent treatment and the homeowner thinks they just magically grew into beautiful palmstrees.. I love them so much, i couldnt help to see them die because of her lazy attitude and to think that she could just ask anyone for help. So, yes.. i secertly watered them until they could hold their own and the are looking great. I FEEL SO GOOD WHEN I DRIVE BY AND KNOW THAT IT WAS I THAT SAVED THOSE BEAUTIFUL 20 FOOTER Palms.. She has no idea, and i wouldnt ever tell her.. She would then want me to tend to them again..

SOme people...?

That is my secret...

PS..dont tell her!!! LOL!!!

Laura