WOMAN'S GREEN THUMB REACHES TO 26-FOOT CEILINGS

A 40-foot by 22-foot living room with a 26-foot ceiling would seem ideal for a Christmas tree.

But that's not the case for Wilma Stratton of Cape Girardeau. Even a large Christmas tree would be lilliputian next to some of the 100 or so house plants she cultivates in her home.

"We've always had a problem with trying to find a Christmas tree," said Stratton. "We've tried everything from small artificial ones to large natural trees, but they all look so dwarfed."

She has settled on modestly decorating one of the plants in the large living room as the home's annual Christmas tree.

A veritable rain forest, including several banana tree plants, grows in the Stratton house. One of the first things noticed when entering the home, though, is a 30-foot high pencil tree plant.

The thin, vertical plant rises to the full height of the 26-foot ceiling where the last three or four feet bend clumsily to one side.

Stratton hasn't always had a green thumb, though. Before building a new house nestled in the rolling hills of Cape Girardeau County about a mile north of the city limits, the Strattons lived in a tiny house near Town Plaza in Cape Girardeau.

"I had two or three plants, but I was never really able to make anything grow," she said.

That all changed in the new home, which resembles a renovated barn from the outside. The home's south wall is comprised of windows, which allow ample sun into the large, high-ceiling living room. "I think it's just the right amount of light," Stratton said.

She has favorites among the plants, with the banana plant topping the list. In 1985, she was given the original plant that has since died.

Offshoots of the plant, though, now total eight in the house and she's given away several more. This year for the first time, the largest of the plants, has a single bunch of green bananas growing.

"When I first saw the fruit, I had leaned over to pick something up off the floor," Stratton said. "When I saw the fruit I started yelling to may husband.

"He thought something was wrong, I was so excited."

The banana tree stands about eight feet tall. A schefflera plant is nearly as tall as the 30-foot pencil tree plant.

Stratton also has several corn plants, which look exactly like a typical corn stalk without the cobs.

"I had a really tall corn plant, but one morning we came downstairs and it had broken and fallen over," she said. "A friend told me that if you cut off the stalk and just lay it down in the soil, a new plant will grown out of it.

"I've started three more plants by doing that."

A huge dieffenbachia, or "dumb cane" plant grows along the living room's north wall. Another massive weeping fig tree also grown by cutting a twig from another plant takes up a large section along the south-facing windows. A philodendron that's as wide as its six-foot height sits in the middle of the room.

Numerous other plants cactus plants, a blossoming "crown of thorns" plant, and many others fill a majority of the floor space in the home.

"My husband jokes that I could take a dead stick and put it in the ground and it would grow," Stratton said.

She said she spends an average of two hours each week watering all the plants.

"It takes about an hour when I do them all," she added. "A lot of them only take water once a week, but the banana plant gets watered four times a week."

Stratton said that because she mixes plant food with the water, she still uses relatively small watering pots. "I don't use a very large pot, because it's good exercise," she said.

When asked how many gallons of water the plants take in a typical weeks, Stratton said she had no idea, but guessed she makes 15 trips or so with two, gallon pitchers each time she waters.

Although her house is full of green, Stratton confesses she has more of a "glass thumb" than a "green thumb." Her real passion is stained glass art, and the plants serve only as a hobby.

"If I ever give up stained glass, I might spend my full time working on plants," she said. "I would like to try some orchids some time, or bromeliads."

Aside from their beauty, Stratton believes living among dozens of living plants has therapeutic value.

"We don't seem to have as many colds," she said. "I really believe it helps."

Does she talk to the plants? "Occasionally," she quipped. "There's really too many to talk to all of them, without slighting some."