Schefflera down, SoCal dreaming

When I began blogging I noticed the first photo of each post would show up on other blogger's blogrolls, next to the name of my blog (if they had their settings set to include photos). Aware of this I made sure the first photo was always a pretty one. Obviously I've gotten over that issue because this is not a pretty photo...

The above shot was taken at the end of June, when I returned from a week away. I'd been kidding myself the Schefflera taiwaniana was just going through it's annual old-leaf drop. After all the new growth looked fine...

However by mid July even the new growth had turned crispy. Root rot? Verticillium wilt?

Here are the stems I cut off, yes there's a little brown smudging, but is that enough to indicate a Verticillium problem?
The fact I'd been trying to water enough to keep the sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis) — planted at the Schefflera's base — happy and green does make me suspect maybe root rot is the case.

Whatever caused it, the fact is I now had a dead (or dead looking) multi-stemmed shrub in my garden. What to do?

As happens my friend Evan had recently posted (on Facebook) photos of some plants he ordered from Bird Rock Tropicals. They looked great and I ordered a couple. Faced with bare stems — and emboldened by a birthday check in the mail from my parents — I took inspiration from Lotusland and the Nichols Garden and ordered a few more. Here are my inspiration photos, first Lotusland ...specifically I'm looking at the Tillandsia mounted on the branches...

And the Nichols Garden...

Of course I am very aware these gardens are both in climates where these plants can be outside year round.

I'm not that lucky.

Here's my small attempt at a similar thing in my garden...

And yes, that's one random Scheflerra branch on the far right that never showed any signs of stress. The shorter one on the far left is a separate plant.

The incredibly bright and insistent sun we've been experiencing here in Portland over the last few weeks made photographing this all quite difficult. Not that I'm complaining, I LOVE the sun.

I wired the Bromeliads and Tillandisa in place and then used Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) to hide the wire and tie it all together.

I'm happy with how it turned out — giving me something to enjoy while I decide what to do with the blank spot where there used to be a handsome Schefflera. However, there has been a large number of people through the garden in the last couple of weeks and only one of them even mentioned it, the rest kind of threw a sideways glance and quickly adverted their eyes. So I've gathered this might not be for everyone. Which is fine.

There's another new addition, a pink Cryptanthus, hanging on the trellis

And a couple new Tillandisa there as well.

It's all temporary of course, because unlike SoCal this will all have to come down when the temperatures drop in a few months...

***late breaking update*** working on this blog post I realized maybe the branches especially were a little underwhelming; an installation made of thin sticks, an obviously dead "something" dressed up. So I pulled in a couple of largish moss covered branches I was holding aside for a future fern table. I like the extra dimension. But of course that means I may need just a few more Bromeliads....

Weather Diary, July 29: Hi 99, Low 64/ Precip 0

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