It's now official, I have no new ideas. I could have sworn that I hadn't featured the tetrapanax as a favorite plant, yet there it is featured last June. Okay, so I never intended to repeat myself but I'm just so happy they are putting out new leaves after our winter cold that I had to talk about them.
Last December when we went into a deep freeze for a week with a low low low of 12 F I wrapped the trunks with pipe insulation, cheap and easy insurance! I didn't want to loose the height and it turns out I haven't.
This is how things looked last summer...
So so so happy to see those little leaves, which will become big leaves.
This is the (too) tall trunk on the far side of the patio. I didn't wrap it because I kind of wanted to knock this plant back a bit. The only thing that really seems to get the tetrapanax sending up shoots is digging in the soil around the plant or having the main trunk die back from a freeze. I thought maybe if I didn't protect this one it would die back, after all it has before.
Looks like it had other ideas.
This is what it looked like last summer, near the outer edge of desirable height.
That crazy crook in the trunk is where it died back in 2010.
On to the stock tank tetapanax, this is my oldest, that tall business at the back is the original plant.
This is what it looked like last summer.
There are new leaves on some of the smaller shoots around the mama plant...
But nothing on mama herself. That dead end is the 2010 freeze point. The two branched bits are where she regrew that spring.
I have a feeling that's what's happening again, the trunk has little nubbins starting to grow all the way up. Experience says a couple of them will take off and become new arms, the others will die. I can live with that.
I'm just so happy there are new leaves showing up and they aren't all dead. To get the stats on this FABULOUS plant visit my original post here. What's looking good in your garden this week?
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