Monday, August 5, 2024

What is a trunk but another place to grow a plant?

Plants on plants, it's one of my favorite things. I've been pretty darn happy with the way my Passiflora lutea looks this year, growing up the trunk of my Trachycarpus fortunei.

It dies back to the ground every winter, but then BAM! reappears with a vengeance in the spring. The flowers are tiny though, about the size of the end of my pinky finger. So while they're fun, the foliage is what it's all about.

The same vines help to cloak the bare trunks of my Rhododendron sinograde, and in the mix somewhere is a Bomaria species vine, it seems to have been knocked back pretty bad by our crazy winter, but I'm happy it's making an appearance.

Moving over to another trachy, this one a Trachycarpus fortunei 'Wagnerianus', also with a hairy trunk.

On it I'm growing a Trachelospermum asiaticum 'Theta'.

I bought them (the jasmine, but actually the palm too) as tiny things so it's nice to see them making progress up the trunk.

One more example from my garden. Trachelospermum asiaticum 'Ogon Nishiki' on a Tetrapanax papyrifer trunk...

New growth has an orange tint to it in the cooler months, this time of year I don't see much of that.

It's still growing though, up up up...

I spotted a couple of Garden Fling hosts who were also growing plants on the trunks of their plants. This one was in Nancy Heckler's garden...

The plant is Euonymus fortunei 'Kewensis', but I didn't look up to see what the trunk it's growing on belongs to.

In Dan Hinkley's garden (Windcliff) I was more interested in the plants growing in the containers against the house and under the palm (a butia I think), than the palm itself.

That is until I turned around and saw the trunk...wowsa! Dan, what are you up to!?! (note: that's plastic on the ground in the distance, solarizing the soil and helping to prep for new plantings)

There were at least three pots of nepenthes tucked in there...

With (I think) some Marcia Donahue or Dustin Gimbel ceramic pieces.

A few phlebodium were growing without pots in the pockets at the base of the palm fronds.

In addition to a few ferns I couldn't ID.

I loved the crazy "all in-ness" of it.

There was also a pyrrosia at the base, I keep meaning to try one of those tucked into tree here in my garden. Oh the possibilities!

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19 comments:

  1. Ha! Foolish me - I saw the title of this post in my feed and thought the trunk you were referring to must refer to the the luggage sort. Covid must be messing with my brain given my failure to factor in whose post this was. I love what you've done with your trunks! I'm disappointed I missed the trunk sighting at Windcliff. Sherman Gardens has tucked bromeliads into palm trunks but that's the only "local" example I've seen of making use of those opportunities down my way.

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    1. Bromeliads in palm trunks are dreamy! Trunks of the luggage sort sound great for transporting plants, not so much for growing though.

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  2. I missed all those details in Dan's palm trunk. I need another tour! Also, yes to growing plants on tree trunks. I'll never forget the Nichols garden at the San Francisco Fling that had bromeliads attached to a tree -- magical! https://www.penick.net/digging/?p=22743

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    1. The Nichols garden stands large in my Fling memories.

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  3. It's a great way of adding more plants to your garden and they look good as well!

    I visited Kev Spence's (from the old Growing on the Edge forum) garden last summer and he had Trachelospermum asiaticum 'Theta' growing in a similar fashion.

    Needless to say I bought one earlier this summer!

    Let's see how it does over the winter :)

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  4. Clearly I have no been taking advantage of my vertical surfaces-such as they are. I especially love the Passiflora action on the palm.

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    1. Well hopefully you're going to right that wrong now that you've realized it.

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  5. Passiflora lutea growing up Trachycarpus fortunei is a thing of beauty.
    Is Trachelospermum asiaticum 'Ogon Nishiki' growing in the ground or a pot? It has the most gorgeous leaf coloration.
    Chavli

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    1. That particular 'Ogon Nishiki' is growing in a large stock tank (same for the tetrapanax), I have others in the ground. It's a great plant!

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  6. It is pretty difficult to do anything like that here in Phoenix, except sometimes I see native Opuntia growing in palm trees and other desert plants! I love all the layering you posted about though!

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    1. I love the opuntia in a palm thing! I remember seeing one growing on a regular shade tree at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum too.

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  7. Darn, my previous post didn't show my name. Did you get it? Ugh!

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    1. Anytime someone mentions Phoenix I'm pretty sure it's you.

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  8. This makes me ache to go out and plant in the trunks and crevices of every tree. Or wish I was 8 with a Barbie to climb the passiflora lutea. Love.

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    1. The next time I go out to the back garden I will picture you and your Barbie playing on the palm trunk!

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  9. Surprisingly hairy Trachycarpus fortunei 'Wagnerianus'. Has me thinking of Bumble, the abominable snowmonster from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I need to move my Euonymus 'Kewensis' so it can do a similar thing to a tree or two around here. I wasn't expecting it to be so clingy.

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    1. Have you ever seen trachycarpus trunks stripped of their hair? They look so tiny and vulnerable to me.

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    2. Ugh. No thanks. Sounds like shaving a cat. Who has time to shave their palms?

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