Here are two of my favourite 'odd' plants from the gardens
This is an old Lantana that has been pruned into a tree (15 or more years). I absolutely love it and can imagine three or four in a planter along a sidewalk or something similar.
Here's a closeup of the flowers. These will eventually turn into green and then black berries. I grabbed several dozens seeds which I have in a moist paper towel until they sprout.
This is one of my favourite banana species (it's probably because of my red foliage fetish). This one is called Musa sumatrana. There is a completely red variety that I have also seen. I think it's called Siam Ruby.
Where would we be without bees? This final image is of a bee hive. It is conveniently located over a handicapped parking spot. I've seen many people pull into this spot just to back out a few seconds later when they here and see all the bees (probably yellow jackets which aren't bees).
How do you prune the lantana into what becomes this beautiful tree? Is it from a normal lantana plant? I had never seen one until now.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
It is a normal lantana but you need to choose young plants with vertical stems. Just prune off the side shoots until it's the height you want. It would probably be best to use a stake because the trunk will be very thin for a few years.
ReplyDeleteIf it stops putting out vertical shoots, just cut a side shoot relatively short. This shoot will then put out more branches and hopefully one will be almost as vertical as the trunk. As the trunk thickens, this will eventually just look like a little crook in the stem as opposed to a bunch of stems changing direction.
It's kind of a trial an error process so I'd start with more plants than you want! Hope that helps/makes sense. They may be able to help more at this site:
http://www.friendslcgc.com/