The Joys of Gardening in an Urban Area?

As many of you know, I am a big fan of gardening at work. It’s a great way for those of us with little space at home to expand our gardening opportunities. But gardening in urban areas always brings an element of…surprise isn’t the right word. Whimsy is more accurate, if you have a dark sense of humor. I’ve had pots stolen. I’ve had people put their cigarettes out in my pots. I’ve had a drunk man urinate in a beer bottle and stick the bottle in one of my containers. It’s never dull.

But I’ve never had one of my pots blown into the street thanks to a fire/explosion in the building next door!

When I came into work today, this metal pot was in the gutter, about 15 feet away from where I left it on Friday evening when I left for work. Today, Sunday, was supposed to be my last day of work at my current job. I had only come in today because it was the first of the month, and we needed to do payroll. Tomorrow, I start my new job as a marketing manager with Kellogg Garden Products.

Apparently, at around 3 am this morning, there was a large fire and possibly an explosion at the building next to my (soon to be) former office. The people over there have always been a little sketchy, and a couple of months ago there was a police/FBI raid of their building in which several people were hauled out and arrested. So I can’t say I am all that surprised that their building burned down. If it’s later deemed arson or a fire resulting from some sort of illegal activity (meth lab anyone?!), I wouldn’t be surprised.

So, anyone want to take bets on whether my plant will survive? It looks like it is covered in sludge from the fire/water used to put it out. Kudos to H. Potter though, the metal pot is completely unscathed.

Update: Here are photos of the other building, it is going to be torn down. All that is left is the outer shell and apparently it is unstable and already falling down.