Beyond Leaves and Flowers

When one thinks about beautiful parts of a plant immediate thoughts tend to go towards the blooms, then a close second are its leaves (inverse if you're a foliage lover like we are). But there are other parts of a plant too that can give so much interest, and for some of them it is neither their blooms nor leaves that make them worthy of growing in the garden.

Just a few examples in our garden...

Kalopanax septemlobus

Nice leaves but the prickles on the trunk also do it for me

This prickly beauty is over 16' tall already

Plain green but is the only bamboo that I know of that has corrugated culms - Phyllostachys bambusoides 'Marliacea'

The photo doesn't do the scale of the stems justice but they are even bigger in diametert o most of our bamboo culms. Nice random stripes, bright colours, and markings too. Fallopia japonica 'Variegata'

In tangent with the plant above, this one begs to be stroked...not! Heracleum dulcis

Odd behaviour on this particular Schefflera taiwaniana. It shed all of its old leaves just before it flushed. But the stems remained intact. Beyond it, check out the Eucalyptus...

Interesting texture on the trunk of this Schefflera rhododendrifolia

Beyond interests on leaves and flowers plants can also offer so much more!

Mark :-)

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