In awarding the prize for the plant with the most impressive recovery from a near-death experience, the result is tied between:
Lasiandra (Tibouchina)
This was planted in a poor spot by the garden's previous owners, and suffered there for two years. It seemed that the summer heat wave was too much, and all the leaves dropped off. After a couple of months I decided to remove the stick to make room for a lime tree, but just as I was about to pull the Lasiandra out, I spotted new shoots. By now my garden plans had moved on from Lasiandras, so my shooting stick was removed to a new location, and the shoots promptly died off. After several more months of playing possum, there are now four new shoots. Talk about a survivor!
RhubarbSoon after we moved here, I planted two rhubarb plants. Soon after I realised that the soil around them was water-repellant, and over two summers the rhubarb repeatedly died off and resprouted. I confess that when stems came up I was not shy about picking them, and as well as this there was the occasional squashing by an errant football (or football boot). When I decided to dig my asparagus trench I found one leafless crown, which I replanted in a better position.
I thought my rhubarb had lived the last of its lives, but look what popped up!
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6 comments:
I think we all love the "survivors" the most. Perhaps because we want to be like those plants and trees. Glad your rhubarb made a comeback. That stuff makes the best desserts,ever!
Rosey
Oh, I just love it when a plant survives. Just when you think they won't come back, they surprise you! Please post more photos of this plant as it grows back.
My experience with tibouchina is that it wants water, lots of water, without which it drops all leaves. Right now I have a near naked shrub with blossoms, few leaves. I hope yours recovers.
Nell Jean - Seedscatterer
Hurrah for your survivors. It's such a surprise when they come back after ages of hiding their sprouts. The rhubarb looks cute.
Hi, finally! I've just been reading through your gardening posts and am a little jealous that you're just entering your spring....right? Just a note about rhubarb. Here in Wisconsin our literature states that rhubarb plants should be allowed to grow for at least 2 years without pulling any and 5 years if you really want it to remain hardy. Maybe that's because of our severe snow, cold and frost. Don't know if this is even applicable to you. Have fun growing everything you can.
Thanks all! And welcome to the new faces ;-)
Nell Jean- thanks for the tibouchina tips: I will be sure to give it a good allocation of drippers when I finally get the irrigation system finalised (post in the making)
Jen- wow, I never realised rhubarb took 5 years to be established! And I thought asparagus was a long wait!! I will have to give mine plenty of TLC to get
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