In a Pot: ‘Companion Plants’

Begonia boliviensis from a rooted cutting

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Tiny plants in tiny pots, expressing a particular season, sometimes displayed alongside a potted tree, are called ‘companion plants’ or ‘accent plants.’

I particularly enjoy growing these little treasures.  They allow us to appreciate a plant, in all of its intricate detail, as a work of art.

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First, these precious little pots fit easily on a windowsill, side table or plant stand.  They can be grown year-round indoors, or moved out into a protected space during warm weather.

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Maidenhair fern with Pilea glauca, creeping blue Pilea. A division of the Pilea grows alone in the previous photo.

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But more importantly to me, these little pots allow me to ‘grow on’ very small plants, or rooted cuttings.  Once they begin to outgrow the little companion pot, they can be re-potted or planted out; used in a larger display, or grown on as a specimen in a larger pot.  This is especially helpful during the winter and early spring when small plants may be grown on for use outdoors in summer.

I buy many of my Asian ceramic companion pots and 1″-2″ companion plants at The Great Big Greenhouse in south Richmond.  They keep a tremendous selection of pots of all sizes, and offer a large display of Asian pots for Bonsai and companion plants year-round.  The pots in these photos were found at The GBGH.

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Coleus with Dichondra, Cuban Oregano, Tradescantia pallida and Lantana.

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Small companion pots are equally good for starting cuttings to grow on into larger plants.  I had a pot where the fern died back in early spring.  I put it outside in a protected spot to see if it might re-grow from the roots; without success.  So I am going to recycle the pot and soil to root some Coleus.

Coleus (now Plectranthus) are members of the Lamiaceae family, most of which root very easily from stem cuttings.

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Take a cutting by cutting or pinching off a stem at a node, where new leaves may be beginning to grow.  Four nodes are visible in this photo.  While many gardeners pinch out Coleus flowers, I let them flower because pollinators love them.

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Prepare the cutting by removing the lowest set of leaves and pinching out the flowers at the top of the stem.  It is usually better to use a stem that hasn’t flowered, as they will often root more easily. Rooting hormone isn’t really necessary with Coleus cuttings.  Feel free to use it if you have it, as it may speed up the process a bit.

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The same stem is now ready for ‘sticking’ into the soil.  Roots will form along the lower stem wherever it is in contact with moist soil, or even plain water.

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I took three cuttings today so the pot looks full right away.  After sticking the cuttings, water lightly, and set the pot into a protected spot…. or not.  I sometimes just stick a cutting where I want the new plant to grow, and hope for the best.

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I struck this cutting several weeks ago and it is now growing on in a pot on my front porch. It gets full sun for several hours a day. If the soil is kept hydrated, the Coleus should root in less than ideal conditions….

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The parent Coleus plant is growing very well this summer. Taking cuttings helps keep the plant bushy, and there is always a spot to fill with a cutting, isn’t there?

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Arrangements in companion pots are temporary plantings.   All things change, right?  Especially in gardening, we expect things to come and go.

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Three cuttings, struck into moist soil, will root withing a week or so. This arrangement can ‘grow on’ through autumn. Cutting back the tops as it grows will extend the life of the planting.  Or, the rooted cuttings can be re-potted into larger containers and kept as houseplants through the winter.  Coleus is a tender perennial.

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An aspect of the beauty of companion plants is their transience.  Favorite subjects in Asia might be ferns, grasses, wildflowers, flowering bulbs and vines.  Some may only be at their peak for a week or two.

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This little Ficus tree has a ‘companion’ in the same pot. A little footed fern grows long rhizomes which ‘visit’ other pots nearby on the windowsill.

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Some of the pots are as tiny as egg cups, and so can only hold a very small root mass.  Many have no drainage holes, and so I begin with a layer of fine gravel in the bottom of the pot.

I use gravel mulch, but a moss mulch is more common, and very lovely.  The moss really needs to live outside to stay plush, however.

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Companion plants in little pots are an affordable luxury for those of us who love to work with plants.

Even without an outside garden space, a little garden may be cultivated in a pot and enjoyed on a windowsill at any time of the year.

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Woodland Gnome 2019

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Wednesday Vignette: Growth

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“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically.

We grow sometimes in one dimension,

and not in another; unevenly.

We grow partially.  We are relative.

We are mature in one realm, childish in another.

The past, present, and future mingle

and pull us backward, forward,

or fix us in the present.

We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.”

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Anaïs Nin

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“A single day is enough

to make us a little larger

or, another time, a little smaller.”

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Paul Klee

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“We are not trapped or locked up in these bones.

No, no. We are free to change.

And love changes us.

And if we can love one another,

we can break open the sky.”

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Walter Mosley

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“Patience is not the ability to wait.

Patience is to be calm no matter what happens,

constantly take action to turn it

to positive growth opportunities,

and have faith to believe

that it will all work out in the end

while you are waiting.”

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Roy T. Bennett

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

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“Do you not see how necessary

a world of pains and troubles is

to school an intelligence and make it a soul?”

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John Keats

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Small Pots

Small pots free us to experiment with plants and planting styles we might never try in the larger garden.  Sometimes called ‘Bonsai accent pots,’ these tiny gardens allow us to create detailed little worlds in a small, shallow container.  All of the plants in a composition should share requirements for light, moisture and nutrition. 

A ‘small pot’ shares much in common with a terrarium; save it is open to the air.  The pot may or may not have a drainage hole, and can be a shallow tray or a few inches deep.  The soil may be finished in mosses, or with fine gravel, small stones, or low, vining plants.

Many of the plants in a small pot may eventually need re-potting to a larger container.  Other plants may remain small and can be grown on in the same pot for several years.  The plants begin as rooted cuttings, small divisions, or perhaps a small bulb, rhizome, seedling tree or tuber.  When kept outside, windblown seeds often germinate and grow.  The gardener may choose to allow the volunteer plant, or pluck it.

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Begonia, nearly ready to bloom for its first time.

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‘Small pots’ need regular watering and grooming, and most want light shade.  They may need daily misting if kept indoors.  They can dry out very quickly if forgotten. 

Tending these small pots allows us to cultivate mindfulness as we construct and care for them, and as we watch them grow and evolve over time.

These ferns, and the Begonia, all came from The Great Big Greenhouse in Richmond, where they are sold in 1″ pots for terrariums, bonsai, and fairy gardens.

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Wednesday Vignette

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“Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.

Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.

Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.

Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.”

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Lao Tzu

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Here is another of the ‘accent plants,’ grown in a shallow Bonsai style pot, I’ve been working with this summer.  The two main plants were sold unnamed, but I believe they may be a cultivar of Alocasia, another of those plants commonly called ‘Elephant’s Ears.’  Tropical, they prefer warmth, high humidity, filtered bright light, and moist soil; a winning combination for a houseplant!

I fell in love with these striking leaves and adopted both plants on the spot.  They came in tiny 1″ pots, and have been growing in their new, more spacious pot for almost three months.

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Mid-June, right after planting up this arrangement

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The ground cover plant is Sellaginella, or ‘Spikemoss.”  Spikemoss also appreciates constant moisture and high humidity, but indirect light.

These little ‘accent plants’ require the frequent,  close attention a proper Bonsai requires to keep them hydrated, groomed, and in good health.  It only takes a moment or two, but the plants must be checked every few days.  I feel more comfortable growing the little ‘accent plants’ because they don’t require the frequent pruning woody Bonsai need, and can grow fairly happily in their shallow little pot for a long while.

They grow on a windowsill where they never get direct sunlight, but have bright light all day.  This has been a good windowsill plant as it never drops a leaf or petal and fills its space elegantly.

Caring for little plants such as these helps us cultivate mindfulness and patience.

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Our little Alocasia after a summer of growth.

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“Time is a created thing.

To say ‘I don’t have time,’

is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.”

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Lao Tzu 

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My appreciation to blogging friend Anna at Flutter and Hum for hosting Wednesday Vignettes each week. 

Photos by Woodland Gnome 2015

 

Bonsai Accent Plants

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While visiting pages written by some of my favorite Bonsai artists last evening, I was absolutely fascinated by a Japanese art form called, ‘Bonsai  accent plants.’  Growing perennials, ferns, herbs, and wildflowers in tiny, shallow little Bonsai pots, over many years, is an horticultural art cultivated along with woody Bonsai.

When I saw these beautiful spring accent pots, I had an “Ah-Ha!” moment.  Immediately, I recognized the mature form of the little “moss gardens” I constructed all winter long.

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Finally, at long last, I saw how these beautiful living masterpieces should be constructed and cultivated.

These accents must look absolutely natural.  In fact, oftentimes seeds germinate after they are constructed, or unexpected perennial roots begin to grow, and are left as part of the composition.

I was especially touched by the compositions of ferns and moss growing on lava rock or hunks of wood.

Having never encountered this art form before, I searched for every scrap of information and photo I could find.  In traditional Bonsai display, the tree itself is displayed along side a calligraphy scroll, and an accent plant which expands on the theme of the tree.

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Pteris cretica ‘Albo-lineata, Variegated Cretan Breakfern

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The accent reflects where the tree might grow in nature, and compliments its form.

The accent plant should also reflect the season in which the tree is displayed.  Plants with spring interest; either spring flowers or unfurling leaves, would be displayed along with Bonsai at a springtime show.  A complete vignette is created by the Bonsai artist to express a mood.

As lovely as the plants themselves, I was entranced by the beautiful handcrafted ceramic bowls paired with many of the plants.  Depending on the plant’s needs, the container might have drainage or not.  Some of the most interesting displays feature succulents, ferns, moss and vines growing directly on rock, as they might in nature.

How does one construct these intriguing displays?  How does one care for them?

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Of course, I was inspired to create another little moss garden today.  I used a little fern purchased last weekend, which was sitting in the shade waiting for inspiration to strike; a handcrafted pottery bowl, and moss lifted from the garden.

Since this bowl offers no drainage, I mixed a base layer of vermiculite, sand, fine aquarium gravel, and a little perlite.  Good quality fresh potting soil fills the bowl, topped with a thin layer of builder’s sand between the soil and layer of moss.  The sand, I learned last night, provides a better base for the moss than does placing it directly on uneven soil.  The moss makes better contact, and so grows more happily.

Moss should never completely cover the soil, and so fine gravel may be used around the edges of the container to make a thin margin, framing the moss, and also in seems between sheets of moss.  I was doing this instinctively, but learned so much more about moss culture and use last night.

Bare areas of soil, around 25% for trees, allows the tree’s roots to breathe.  Water permeates the soil more easily if it does not need to first soak through a layer of moss.

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Ideally, an accent plant should be cultivated for several years before it is first displayed.  Like Bonsai trees, these living works of art grow better over time.

Showing you this little arrangement the same day it was created is entirely presumptuous, as is showing it to you alongside a seedling Acer Palmatum in a pot, which is in no way a Bonsai.

I’ve only had the Acer for a few months.  But photographing them together may give  you a faint idea of the beauty Bonsai artists create by pairing a tiny potted plant with a Bonsai tree.

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Now that I’ve finally had a formal introduction to the concept of accent plants, I have fresh inspiration for my own potted arrangements.  I’ve seen a further horizon of possibility.

I’m keen to experiment with the instructions I read last night for cultivating moss in shallow trays, ready to use when needed.  I’m also now in search of an appropriate wooden or lava base for experimenting with designs layered onto a solid foundation, rather than anchored in soil in a pot.

Oh, the possibilities!

“An artist’s concern

is to capture beauty

wherever he finds it.”
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Kazuo Ishiguro

 

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Woodland Gnome 2015

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