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Accent Plants

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Post  Kev Bailey Mon Jul 27, 2009 8:32 pm

I have quite a few unusual plants but not many good photo's yet. Here are some. This first one is my smallest Hosta that is the result of me crossing Yakushima Mizu plants and selecting the smallest seedling from hundreds of offspring. The leaf form is different from the parent as it is narrower and much shorter. Shown about twice lifesize. Accent Plants My_hos10
This one is Ledebouria socialis a South African bulb, in a Dan Barton pot
Accent Plants Ledebo10
This is Ophiopogon planiscapus Nigrescens - Black Mondo Grass
Accent Plants Ophiop10
And the one below is Equisetum, a dwarf scouring rush in a Japanese pot that resembles a section of bamboo.
Accent Plants Horset10
This is a delightful tiny fern, that I've lost the identity of, in a Walsall Studio Ceramics pot
Accent Plants Fern10
Last one is Sempervivum arachnoideum - Cobweb Houseleek. They grow in the Alps on top of rocks and are succulents that can survive freezing. In a Japanese pot. I need to retake this one and get it in focus!
Accent Plants S_arac10
These are all shown sllightly larger than lifesize.
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Post  Treebeard Mon Jul 27, 2009 9:10 pm

Hi Kev, what beautiful little accents, I think the Equisetum is my favourite. If I'm not mistaken the unidentified fern is an Adiantium, possibly raddianum, Maidenhair fern.

Chris.
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Post  Kev Bailey Mon Jul 27, 2009 9:24 pm

Adiantum raddianum certainly looks like it, thanks Treebeard.
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Post  fiona Mon Jul 27, 2009 10:41 pm

Cracking accents, Kev - are you going for kusamono or shitakusa here? Laughing They look as great - if not even better - potted up in the pics as they do in real life.

As a matter of interest, can you identify this little guy for me? It's a fern that grows rampant around me and is usually attached to stone walls where it seems to like the taste of the mortar. It seems to favour direct sunlight which is unusual for ferns around here. I have ones which are only a few centimetres breadth right up to about 20 centimetres. They tend to clump when they get bigger so what looks like a bigger one can in fact be several smaller ones. If you see what I mean.

Accent Plants Fern_110

Accent Plants Fern_210
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Post  Kev Bailey Mon Jul 27, 2009 11:17 pm

Shitakusa technically but they are accent plants to me.

I've a feeling that's Asplenium trichomanes. I see it in limestone walls near my home. Haven't tried growing it, yet....
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Post  fiona Mon Jul 27, 2009 11:27 pm

I just pick them off the wall, chuck them into a seed tray filled with a compost and sand mix and sit it in the middle of garden. They do their own thing thereafter - no pampering, only a modicum of watering and no feeding. They seem almost indestructible and I swear to goodness when I go back to the wall two days later, in the space where I created a gap, four new ferns have sprung up to fill it.
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Post  Kev Bailey Mon Jul 27, 2009 11:30 pm

Naughty naughty, plod can have you for that. I like the challenge and usually propagate from collected spore. That way I get hundreds of tiny ferns from one leaf with mature sporangia.
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Post  fiona Mon Jul 27, 2009 11:46 pm

Kev Bailey wrote: mature sporangia.
I think I've got a cream for that Laughing

Plods around here only tend to be interested in the sort of flora that has green palmate leaves and is being grown under high-intensity lighting in someone's attic.
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Post  fiona Mon Jul 27, 2009 11:49 pm

But more sensibly, how do you actually do that (propagating from fern spores) and what sort of timescale are we talking to get a decent size fern?
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Post  Kev Bailey Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:03 am

It's supposed to be very complicated but I've had great success following a method an old gardener friend showed me. Take a frond that has spots underneath that have started to change colour from green to brown or black. These are the sporangia (spore cases) and once they dry they pop and release spores that are microscopic and dust like. This is best done in a paper bag. They are then shaken over a seed tray of damp peat. The whole thing is placed in a polythene bag and left for a year under a greenhouse bench or any sheltered protected spot. I'll not bore you with the whole prothallium and sexual reproduction phase. Suffice it to say that if kept just damp they will eventually sprout from the slimy green mat, that the spores have developed into, tiny fernlets that can be potted up and will then develop rapidly. Lots of lovely ferns in 18 months.
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Post  fiona Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:16 am

That sounds like my sort of thing. I'm good at putting things under benches and neglecting them. Is there an optimum time of year for collecting the spores? My very scant understanding is that ferns produce sporangia on leaves that are about to die (presumably they start to dry up as part of this) and this can happen all through a growing season

Righto. Your mentioning slimy green mats has reminded me that I have a fridge to clean before bed.
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Post  Kev Bailey Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:21 am

Different species mature at different times. Just keep an eye on the leaves from midsummer onward and you'll notice when the dots under leaves start to mature. There are some other interesting ways to propagate ferns. I'll write an article sometime.
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Post  Treebeard Tue Jul 28, 2009 7:56 pm

A couple of my own simple accents-

The first one is an Oxalis. This grows like a weed everywhere, but is still attractive nonetheless...
Accent Plants 3721459716_6e666cd9c9

this one is saxifraga cappa blanca, I think it's a John Pitt pot.
Accent Plants 3720648857_79aa202863

Chris.
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