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asleep_in_the_garden

Another "grouping" experiment

So last night a visit with a friend turned into a "hey would you adopt my plant" experience. 7 sheffleras in a 3gal nursery pot that were about 3ft tall on average. I put 4 of them in a terrarium so as not to have to make any immediate decisions,and put the other 3 in a vase along with an epipremnum cutting I'd been keeping indoors that had been getting a touch lengthy. After getting everyone secure in there,I wound the vine around the sheff trio to the top,back down to the soil-line(providing a way for aerials to train back to the soil),and back up again. The set up is temporary...for now it's just something to hold them in and the media is the stuff the scheffs were planted in but after a while I'll get around to improving on all this and by then they should be well acquainted.

I wonder what this pairing will do over time?

Comments (30)

  • birdsnblooms
    10 years ago

    Asleep...is your Scheff, arboricola? The leaves look large.

    Are all 7 Scheffs the same species?

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hi Toni!

    Yeah...I'm pretty sure they are arbicolas and from what I would imagine,whoever it was who potted them together like this probably took all the cuttings from the same plant so not only same species,but likely clones of each other to boot! :)

  • birdsnblooms
    10 years ago

    I wondered if you could braid all 7???
    If the wood is semi-soft, you can give it a try...or pot individually.

    Whichever you decide, hope it works.

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    For now the other 4 are in the terrarium. Origionally,the 3 that I combined with the epipremnum were going to be braided and after a few failed attempts I noticed the vine and went "waaaaaaaaaaaaaait a minute..!".

    Admittedly this whole project was arrived at on impulse(something that happens all too frequently around here).
    I know that the sheff will never be able to keep up with the vine's rate of growth so sometime down the line I suspect some kind of support will be necessary,but until then,I'm thinking this will do. :)

    Here's another shot,,,sorry it isn't the best pic in the world,but you can get a glimpse of the other 4 scheffs in the terrarium(which is actually 2 terrariums...the one on top is open end down positioned on top of the open end of the one on the bottom).

  • birdsnblooms
    10 years ago

    Aww, now I see what you did. I thought to myself, she must have one huge aquarium! :)

    Ditto, on impulse. Buying, adopting, and projects.

    Well, good luck with your new Scheffleras. lol.

    Purple comes up with creative ideas..maybe she'll join in with an idea.

    I thought we were combining? Trying to cut back? lol.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    Hmmm, cut-back turned into cut-off? LOL!

    I like the braiding idea, a lot! Perfect whips to try with, if they are as flexible as they look. You're right. It's easier said than done. You see how many braided plants I've pictured, yep, none. No helpful vids out there?

    As they age, the trunks will harden, get woody, so likely a fine support for Pothos, whether braided or not. If Scheff inosculates, it may just turn into one bumpy trunk anyway. Like said, it will constantly be going up and back down, unless trimmed periodically (or possibly both, as new shoots form.) I think you'll have fun with it, and if you decide you don't like it some time, I'm sure you'll separate them. If you cut the tip off of the Pothos, it will start making new shoots sooner.

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    "Aww, now I see what you did. I thought to myself, she must have one huge aquarium! :)"

    Toni,...you called me "she" again...beginning to think I'll have to cut my ponytail off if you keep that up! ;)

    Getting in and out of the terrarium when it's set up like that is something of a pain in the kiester,but for tall cuttings(and plants that need pampering and will fit),..it's a lifesaver!

    Purp,..
    Your inosculation comment made me wonder what would have happened had I braided the pothos IN with the sheffy twigs...wonder if in time it would've cut off the top part(which naturally would survive to throw off of aerials in all directions in search of new supplies),and left the part below the braid to start over down there?...Or crazier still...if the cambium layer of the pothos remained intact after being surrounded by sheff wood...somehow I can't imagine it happening like that,yaknow? :)

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    Oh wow, that's a fascinating thought! Why aren't you doing this? I mean right this minute. C'mon! Any plant not under some sort of weird experiment isn't pulling its' weight as far as entertainment value. No wait, that's my house, nevermind, but man, that really sounds cool, if you don't do it, I'll just pout.

    I've told you before the ponytail doesn't go with the dress and heels. What are you - going fashion jogging? Are you considering that perm and frosted highlights I suggested? Just keep staying away from the makeup, you don't to paint yourself to be beautiful! (And have better things to do with your time and $!)

  • birdsnblooms
    10 years ago

    Asleep, whoops, 'blush'

    I apologize. Wish you used a first name besides Asleep. lol.
    Ponytail. Seriously? I admire men who, to this day, keep their hair long.
    Wait, are you being facetious?

    Oh, yes, I remember cleaning aquariums. Especially deep tanks. My body'd be leaning inside, lol.

    Combing Scheff and Pothos..hmm.
    It's too bad there aren't many other vines to combine.

    Purp, btw, speaking of combining. Last week, I spent hours combining plants..Thanks for the idea.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    Oh. Well I thought I'd be flattered if other people were inspired by my unorthodox ideas, but, it's giving me like a stage fright thing in the pit of my stomach. Not that I'm not 100% confident about what anyone has done, but like the first time my daughter drove away by herself, I was nervous about her doing it all by herself. I hesitate to use this analogy because you have as much, if not more, plant experience than I do, Toni, so am not saying anything between the lines about you - or Asleep. Just that the credit's been given to me, (and who else is reading?) and I don't feel prepared or worthy, or that there will be any escape from blame if anybody's plants now perish... no matter what the cause, it will look suspicious! Man, if it's like an Amish shunning, I'll be really bummed. Stuff grows really tight in a garden, in a jungle, in a forest, the mini gardens that are newly popular but definitely not a new genré, even all of those florist arrangements never repotted or separated for years. We're all under the same spirit of saving space for winter, then expecting to re-evaluate some stuff, right? Not going to insist "love will keep us together" for every combo we create I hope, or let anybody be overwhelmed to death. We'll take cuttings or repot out of season, right?

    Oh, but there are other vines to combine, heart-leaf Philo in plain, 'Micans,' 'Brazil,' Pothos (Epipremnum) in too many forms to name, Syngonium, Scindapsus, baby Monstera, then the creepers that need help but would happily go up. Like Tradescantias, Callisia repens, Gibasis geniculata, sweet potato, string of pearls...

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    No sarcasm this time Toni,..I actually do grow my hair long...mostly because I'm too cheap to get it cut and styled.
    More or less had it this way my whole life...and for what it's worth,..it has been fun pretending to be insulted by your mistaking me for a lady,but my feelings were never really hurt at all,so thank you for the part you played it all this...after all,you can kinda tell that Purp was LHAO. :)

    The problem with the set up at the moment is that if I want to get in there to do anything I have to take an entire aquarium off the top you see. That's of course after I remove all the stuff that's on top of it,right? UGH!

    Purp,..
    I like your attitude about make up. I've always thought that the idea of a bad tasting layer of cake like crap on a girls face was the wrong way to go. The way it looks without it is sooooo much better. Honest and natural.

    Also it might humor you to know that a bit of the epipremnum does in fact tuck in among the sheffys so that experiment as described will go forward without my having to unmake everything and start over. YAY!

    Also I think it worthy of note that when this experiment fails,I and everyone else will BLAME you because you held a gun to my head and MADE me do it! LOL
    ...No Purp,..I'm pretty sure that nobody here sees you as a scapegoat. An awesome chick who's sharp-minded ,equipped with friendly advice,and a willingness to help,maybe,..but not someone to pin blame on.

    So no pressure,okay? :)

    By the way...I still have the other four sheffys...and a few of those vines you were describing.

    Tempting!

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    Thanks! I appreciate that. Am I watching too much Amish Mafia, or just too used to my kid ignoring everything I say? Not yet enough Monstera mass to part with any, but would be happy to donate any of the others needed to an experiment, just LMK which you need.

    I don't know what to tell you about the aquarium, over winter, I fail to do a lot of things I (think I) should, or lost experiment opportunities, because I've packed plants so tight, I can't reach them.

    Speaking of unpalatable facial products, I got some lotion that smells like chocolate but DH made such a fuss after he kissed me that I gave it to my niece. You're right, who wants to taste bad? But we agreed about the positive aspect of giving her what amounts to boy-repellent, she's a teen!

    Sorry about the gun! It's just a water-squirter. Rain water, not tap.

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Rain water eh?
    Maybe an idea or two will sprout. :)

    Reality television is BAD for you Purp! ...nothing but people whining and griping and arguing all show long...like we don't get enough of that in real life and now it seems the tv has nothing left on but more and more of that stuff. I more or less quit watching tv a long time ago...and every time I give it a minute,I feel like my brain is shrinking from exposure to it. I just can't imagine people finding this stuff entertaining...at all!

    Oh well.

    That monstera of yours IS nice but I do believe I have some of that already anyway so no worries there. The syngonium I keep is NOT the pink one though...can you picture a pinkie running up a sheff? I know I can! :)

    So very long ago I had a culture of callisia repens(omg that stuff looks SO good in a terrarium!),that I miss terribly . Cant help wondering if you were to train it up a sheff,..what would it do up there once it got there? I somehow doubt that the bee-hive look that is oft achieved in hanging baskets would manifest in this type of arrangement,but who knows? Would be interesting to see what it WOULD do,yaknow?

    Good luck with the niece and the boy repelent...I really do blame Mtv in part for the current state of western culture...the same people who brought you reality television("the real world",remember that?),made teen pregnancy popular! Next thing you know all the kiddies go out like the influential lemmings that they are and do what they saw on tv(did I mention that tv is evil?). LOL

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    Oh, I don't watch that kind of stuff, but the shows about supposedly real businesses and people doing whatever-it-is-they-do I find fascinating. When MTV was invented, I was a teen but I didn't watch the videos. If I was somewhere where people were watching, I just turned to face them instead of the TV. After seeing a few, I realized my mind conjured the pics from them when I heard the songs. Like you said, I could feel my brain shrinking from the limitations imposed by that, no thanks. When I listen to music, I am still free, except for a few songs - whew!

    You may have seen this pot before, Easter cactus and Callisia, companionized last June. I've been snipping pieces of this to share with other pots and people all summer. A couple weeks ago, I unwound all of the Callisia and cut a lot of it off to share longer pieces with "holy moly" hanging pots, then wound the long pieces I didn't cut back around the arms of the hanging thingie. Some of these pieces are about 3 ft. long. The only problem I can see is once it makes side shoots, the main stem turns into 50, which you can see happening here already, especially on the left. But that's only a problem if you don't have scissors handy! In the spring, I'm going to move this to a hanging pot with much longer home-made wire hanging arms.

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Wow purp...You didn't let video kill the radio star either? I'm impressed!
    What pained me was the thought that when bands realized that the kiddies would be mesmerized by imagery,their efforts toward the quality of the actual MUSIC would suffer. Just come up with neat video and who cares what it sounds like anymore,right? Imagine if say...the beatles had that attitude...Ringo wouldn't have had to yell "I've got blisters on my fingers!".

    Was thinking about the wire arms you described and it made me wonder what the result would look like if you put an empty wire basket without it's hanger on top of a plastic hanging basket that still has it's hangie thingie...maybe this will help illustrate what I mean...

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    So basically train the callisia up into and all around the wire frame up top and the let it cascade all over.

    If I trained it up and up to the top of a sheffy and let it do it's thing up there,I can't help wondering how it will play out...bee-hive at the top or just a massive amount of foliage all over with little sign of a sheffy left?

    Curiosity yaknow! :)

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    That's a really cool idea, very! Don't accept the fact that it runs out of room at the top, just make more! One could do that with a handy roll of 25-lb. plastic-coated (green) steel wire. $2-something at hardware store for 25 feet I think. And if suddenly, Tillandias fell out of the sky, they would look cool involved in that somehow.

    Did you draw that? I could use that pic to make a cross-stitch pattern, adding whatever foliage... Hmm... Pixelated computer art and quilting/cross-stitch are first cousins, it's all geometric shapes technically made from squares, graph paper. I haven't had a cross-stitch thought (except mourning) since our 'puter crashed and I lost most of the patterns I'd made. Thanks, hugely!! It makes perfect sense to stitch one of my most fav things - a hanging basket.

    If you PM me your addy, I'll send you a little box of pieces of this plant and another Callisia repens, and I think you'll agree, they are different plants! I'm sure one of the tiny pink Syngoniums would fit in there too, pot has 7 or 8. Also need to get rid of some Sans babies, Kalanchoe diagremontonana babies everywhere (doubt I spelled that right from memory,) Callisia fragrans, and little purple/white Hemigraphis with roots...

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    That was a quick sketch using the paint program(I really should play around with it more). How was I to know that you would go in a cross stitch direction with this?...Girl you are full of surprises!
    As to the coated wire,I can totally see making skeletal framework of some desired form or another and sic the calissia on that...effectively we're talking topiary here,aren't we? Raining tillys eh?..that would be an awesome weather report,wouldn't it? I can see us all running around in it with buckets!

    Wow Purp!
    I can barely contain my excitement!
    Suffice it to say that it's been a while since I've gotten anything in the mail besides junk...this really makes my day,Purp...Thanks so much! :)

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    Cool! Got your note, but your GW settings still prevent me from being able to reply. If you don't want to change that, just don't expect a response if you send anyone a PM (or type it in the message if you do want a response and want to leave it that way,) but shoot me another with your email addy typed into it so I can email you back?

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Okay!
    Sent you another message and this time the info you need will be there. Promise! :)

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The experiment continues...

    A little bit ago the impulse took me to remove a couple of the four remaining sheffys from the terrarium and pot them in with my phil brazil and my monstera...each pot has it's own sheffy as a support now. The brazil was easy peasy,but wow...where'd poor sheffy go? LOL

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The monstera will be a minute in straightening out I suspect,but once it does,it should look great again,,,and in time it will be even better.

    When it was loose draped across other plants out back,it looked like so much more plant but of course pulling it all together and tying it to a tree is likely to do that,huh? lol

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Actually I take that back...doesn't look terribly small...just looks tiny compared with that brazil,that's all,right?

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    So jungle-ish! I like them. So two more pots gone, right? And yes, the leaves should re-orient in better directions soon. Aroid vines seem reluctant to do that but will eventually. Will force the Scheffs to be strong too, huh? Sending good vibes!!

  • birdsnblooms
    10 years ago

    Morning,

    My goodness this thread grew...:)

    Purple, I had to chuckle....Don't read between the lines. lol.
    Ok.

    Purp, no need to worry. You will not be held accountable for my stupidity if a plant or plants kick the bucket.

    I am indeed proud of you for coming up with the idea and sharing with us poor, over-crowded indoor gardeners.

    Believe me, so far, my combined plants are doing well, and would you believe, the YARD has more room???

    Of course, while shopping yesterday, I did something I said I wouldn't do...browse plants at Home Depot, came home with Phonix roebelenii. A large plant!

    Asleep, my 'man.' How are you?
    How's the Scheff's coming along.
    Sorry, I didn't read all the posts, so will have to update to understand what you and Purp are discussing.

    As for long hair on men, you know my feelings..I think it's sexy. lol.

    The last line I read was you talking about moving tanks, and stuff on tanks..Ugh is right!

    I'm seeing Monsteras. Very pretty Philodendrons, but grow TALL.

    For some reason, a Monster, Split leaf? I bought at WAlmart before I said I wasn't going to be buying more plants, hangs...???
    What's with that.

    It has a health problem, for sure..Everyday I find another brown leaf.
    The basket doesn't have a saucer, so it gets watered in the sink. To think, I left a smaller, much smaller version in the alley for someone to take..and they did.

    So, who's grouping what these days? Toni

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Here be the syngonium newly acquainted with a nice umbrella twig. After photo,it went back in the terrarium.

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Now that it's in a pot,it's a bit tighter a squeeze!

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hi Purp!
    Thanks for the vibes and all the other wonders that you sent. I think that the syngie is happy with it's new climbable playmate,don't you? :)

    Hiya Toni!
    I know what you mean about a monstera in a hanging basket,..I mean sure they'd look fine like that but when you think of the potential that's going to waste it seems such a shame. Right up there with epipremnum(pothos)...they'd both rather have something to climb and the results are worth it!

    Wait a minute...*sigh* it's late,isn't it? lol
    Did you mean that it's droopy?
    I would suggest rigging up some kind of support right there in the basket and if need be,tying it in place until the aerials roots emerge to take hold of it. Once it has a secure hold on something that feels stable to it,it will gain noticeable confidence.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    That's cute! These guys look like old friends already.

    Toni, I don't have any more pics to add 'cuz everybody's already got a companion or two.

    What about a pic of your unhappy Monstera? I didn't notice you'd said that before. Has it perked up since then?

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    We were visiting DH's Mom yesterday and I thought this pot on her front porch looked great so snapped a pic of her group experiment. Looks like more, but I think it's just 5 plants:
    Syngonium
    heart-leaf Philodendron
    NOID burgundy Philodendron
    NOID rhizomatous Begonia
    NOID cane/angel wing Begonia