Crepe myrtle - literati

[delisea]

I love it when a plan comes off. This is the result of years of dedication. Potted into a piece of antique Tokoname.

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...naaa not really, I air layered it this spring and potted it in a re-purposed vintage mixing bowl. It was great fun to do, give it a go.
Cheers, Symon

[Ryceman3]

...naaa not really, I air layered it this spring and potted it in a re-purposed vintage mixing bowl. It was great fun to do, give it a go.
Cheers, Symon

Good job on the air layer ... Always something to learn when doing stuff like that, nicely done!

[zimzallabim]

Very cool. I have a couple of air l as years on a crepe myrtle right now actially, hope they work!

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[delisea]

This was the first air layer that I have done. I'm surprised how easy it was, I posted to encourage people to give it a go.
ZZB, I'm sure yours will work crepe myrtles WANT to grow.
Cheers, Symon

[kcpoole]

Now that is very differnet
Lovely actually, I like

Ken

[Joel]

I love the Usnea too. Let us know if it survives on the tree as I have never been able to transplant one successfully.

[delisea]

Thanks Ken.
Joel, nice pick up on the Usnea (old man's beard) it naturally set. As crepe myrtles eventually shed bark it will lose it sooner or later. Usnea is supposed to be very sensitive to air pollution so that might be a problem in growing them. The lovely thing about this tree is that is covered in a bunch of other lichens.

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Lichens are a symbiosis between two fungi (yes two) and an algae. They derive their energy from the algae photosynthesising so they shouldn't hurt your tree. I think they give trees character and a sense of age.
Cheers, Symon

[Joel]

Thanks for the close-ups Symon! Although they are beautiful and it will be sad to see them go, there's something poetic about such a sensitive organism grasping onto a perfect but temporary environment. Ambivalence.

As for the symbiosis involving two fungi, that research has still not been replicated. It was conducted on a species in North America that had genomic research done earlier which failed to resolve DNA of yeast. It's not impossible but at this stage it still seems improbable to most researchers who work in this field.

[delisea]

Joel! Don't tell me that you read 'Science' or was that professor google at work?
Cheers, Symon