'I accidentally killed my own plant and now my neighbour won't talk to me'
A woman has become "enemy" number one in her neighbour's eyes after forgetting to water a plant in her garden. She explained how she had a Christmas cactus on her porch for four summers, but brought it inside one day to protect it as a storm rolled through their neighbourhood.
However, she forgot to put it back outside and then it slipped her mind altogether, getting starved of water and sunlight to the point where it died. Taking to Reddit, she said: "I wasn't happy about the loss of something I'd kept alive for four whole years, but I wasn't exactly heartbroken over it either.
"To me, it was just a plant and I got over it after like 24 hours. I threw it away and that was that." But it didn't take long for her neighbour to notice it missing from her porch and start grilling her about it next time they bumped into each other.
She accidentally killed her Christmas cactus (Getty Images/iStockphoto)"[My neighbour] Jane has always admired the plant and complimented it often," she added. "Jane and I have been neighbours for about five years.
"We have never had an argument and our relationship is quite agreeable. We aren't close, but we aren't strangers either.
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"Jane was walking past the house yesterday while I was sitting outside. She came to say hello and noticed the cactus was missing.
"She asked where my beautiful cactus was, to which I replied 'Oh, unfortunately it died. I forgot how much you enjoyed it!'
"She asked me how, and I told her. I forgot to maintain it and it died."
She went on to explain how Jane erupted with anger - going as far as to call her a "murderer" for allowing the plant to die under her watch.
The woman said: "I have never seen her so passionately upset before! Jane accused me of being negligent and uncaring.
"[She said] I shouldn’t be a plant parent if I wasn’t going to care for my cactus as if it was a living being. What I had done was no different than murder and I should feel absolutely ashamed of myself.
"I told Jane I was sorry that the death of the plant upset her, and it was flattering how much she enjoyed it. But it was just a plant I had no real emotional attachment to.
"She looked at me absolutely appalled and said 'It’s not just a plant. All lives matter!' Jane then stormed off and hasn’t spoken to me since."
Her angry neighbour started "badmouthing" her to others in their community - but refused to give away too many details about their dispute.
"She’s ran her mouth though, because several of my neighbours have since messaged me that Jane is telling anyone who will listen how much of a horrible human I am but won’t tell them why," she added.
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"I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. It’s just a plant. I didn’t go out of my way to kill it. But I also don’t care it’s dead either!
"I like Jane and I don’t want to cause a bigger problem, but she’s crossed the line badmouthing me to our neighbours."
Commenting on her post, one user said: "Make a fake headstone for the cactus, maybe it will help Jane with her loss."
Another user added: "Why would you even want to fix it? Are your neighbours turning on you because this one person said you killed a plant? Christ.
"Is it a retirement community and they have nothing better to do? I would start killing a cactus every week."
A third user said: "Step 1. Buy another cactus Step 2. Invite her over to look at the new cactus. Step 3. Curb stomp the cactus in front of her.
"I don’t know if that will help but it’ll damn sure be funny."
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