Savage Gardens

 

Attack an animal, or another human, and they'll run away, or they'll fight back.

They'll bite, peck, kick, or punch.
They'll squirt poison at you to defend themselves.
They'll group together in a mob, for safety in numbers.

Attack a plant and it can't run away. Joining together is tricky too.

And as for fighting back...
Well - some plants can, and do!

 

Can you spot the deadly plant in this east coast rainforest?

Native gympie gympie, scourge of the bushwalker, is the final boss of self-defence, injecting itchy toxins that can distress for years after first contact.

A leading researcher of these plants handles it wearing welding gloves.

But there's other plants that have a sting in their tail, a thorn on their side, and a bite to their bark...

 

Other plants can sting, though thankfully not as violently and for so long as the mighty gympie-gympie.

European nettles (Urtica)famously carry a venom in the hairs on their leaves and stems. Grasp them firmly and you'll be fine; brush against them gently and you'll get a raised itchy rash.

Nettles make a nutritious soup when cooked, a herbal tea, and fine soft cloth when woven, (here's a Himalayan version)- so they have good qualities too.

And from Roman times people have used the nettles' sting medicinally, to encourage blood flow and relieve arthritis pain.

 

"Leaves of three, let it be"

Poison ivy, poison sumac, poison oak, in northern American woodlands, can cause havoc to an unwary hiker.

Children are taught to look out for the three leaves together, and keep well away, or risk a nasty blistering rash.

 

Happily, most of the cacti we grow are more like the roundy Mammillaria cactus above; they won't hurt you unless you're very determined, and their spines are small and easily avoided.

And our acacia are all Australian species, very soft to touch - even the menacing-sounding knife-leaf wattle!

 

Aloe vera is known worldwide as a gentle soothing healing plant.

Many of our aloes are hybrids of a different species : Aloe x spinosissima - "the most spiny of all"!

Despite the name, they're ornamentally spiny along the leaf edges, not actively aggressive, and very resilient in a range of situations

Our agaves too have a sharp point to their otherwise-smooth leaves, so plant them with enough room to grow to full size and they won't bother you.

 

When many of us think of defensive weapons on a plant, like Axl Rose we think of every rose with its thorn. Roses grown for florist bouquets have smooth stems with few large thorns, easy to handle and remove.

Shrubbier garden roses often have a dense covering of slender thorns, true prickles, along all the stems; and some are bred especially for their giant decorative thorns.

You'll be happy (or disappointed!) to know that the climbing roses we grow are smooth and thornless, and our patio roses have very few thorns too. They're all about the beautiful flowers.

 

Surprisingly, perhaps, citrus trees can wield a sharp blade.
Well, there's a lot of birds, and butterflies, and bats, and possums, and cheeky neighbours that want to sink their teeth into the juicy fruits!

One variety we stock is cherished for its record-breaking scimitar-like thorns, long and curved. Poncirus Flying Dragon can grow into a thick entangled hedge strong enough to walk across, and armed with its own teeth to bite back.

 

Less thorny, but still well-armoured, is the handsome burgundy berberis.

Deep rich colour, neat round leaves, golden bell flowers - it's an attractive plant in all seasons.

Look a little closer and you'll see thorny prickly stems and branches. It's really good at creating a security hedge to keep your dog safe in the garden. Or the neighbour's dog out of your garden.

Sea holly (Eryngium) gets its common name from the attractive thistly foliage, which is toothed like common holly. The toothiness varies with species and variety, some lacy like Elizabethan ruffs and some very prickly like Shakespearean daggers.

Our sea holly is not stabby, unless you're very sensitive; but the prickliness is enough to put animals off treating the plant as lunch!

Did you know, the common holly trees (Ilex)can adapt their prickliness to respond to local danger?

The plants respond to damage by producing very prickly toothed leaves; so at the bottom of the shrub, where they are browsed by animals, leaves are spiny; and at the top of the shrub where they are mostly out of reach, they grow smooth-edged.

We also grow a completely smooth-leaved holly, the Japanese holly Sky Pencil (Ilex crenata); and our native holly hedge (Graptopetalum) is toothy, but it's all bark and no bite.

 

The leaves of the beaked hakea (Hakea rostrata) are long, thin, and sharp - like a spinebill's or curlew's beak.

The birds use their beaks for probing into shoreline mud or nectar-rich flowers.

Hakea uses its leaves for protection, sheltering its nectar-rich blossoms - it makes a great security hedge!

Smooth Potting

Top Tip : When it comes to repotting your cactus, fold a piece of newspaper lengthways to form a thick doubled-over strip.

Wrap this around the body of your cactus and use it to lift and manoeuvre your plant in place.

No prickles!

Bloodsuckers & Bug Eaters

 

These carnivorous plants are no trouble at all to a human - their targets are far smaller!

Here, an unlucky fly is about to take a fatal bath in a pitcher plant (Sarracenia), as the hairs inside the tube stop him climbing out to freedom.

 

When an insect lands on the sensitive pads of a Venus fly trap, it triggers a message to the plant, and the trap snaps shut. The insect is trapped inside the cage of teeth, until it dissolves, feeding the Venus fly trap for next time.

The Venus fly trap's botanic name, Dionaea muscipula, actually translates to something more fearsome - mouse trap! Even the biggest Venus fly trap known to science would struggle with a meal as hearty as that...

 

Not so the pitcher plants (Nepenthes). Some rare tropical pitcher plants are large enough to swallow up a mouse - but we don't sell any that hungry, so your pets are safe!

Enzyme-rich juices in the plants help dissolve the bodies of flies and other insects unfortunate enough to get trapped, providing nutrition to help the plants grow.

It's the circle of life.