Climbing to green heights

Climbers and hanging plants have always been popular space savers among garden enthusiasts all over the world since decades. Rashmi Shrinivas  introduces us to the latest rockstar, the Climbing Fig.

Like the well-known Money Plant, Climbing Fig clings to any organic or inorganic vertical support provided. With the help of its tiny aerial rootlets, it clings to the support. Botanically known as Ficus pumila, it belongs to the family Moraceae. It is a close cousin of holy trees like the Banyan, the Peepal and Cluster Fig trees.

Its rich evergreen foliage, fast growing nature, low maintenance due to its pest resistant quality together with its great ability to grow in both vertical and horizontal directions, makes it an ideal choice to cover an old compound or a small dog house. In its juvenile stage, it bears small reddish leaves clinging to the wall with its tiny roots. As the plant matures, leaves turn dark green.

If it is grown to cover the inner surface of your compound, after completely covering the surface, it starts covering the outer surface by growing downwards too, unlike other plants that generally grow upwards.

As for me, I tried this plant on my compound wall facing the road. Out of the five plants I bought, three survived and one of them had reached almost the top of my compound, covering the name board of our home. It grows well even in pots. Though it takes a while to establish initially, once established, it hardly dies. If grown on the ground, it grows fast and luxuriantly like any other plant.

It does not need much water except in the initial stage. This can easily be propagated from plants bought from nurseries and also from cuttings of mature plants. This grows well in full sunlight as well in partial shade.

If you plan properly, you can create an emerald house for your pet dog! Some residents opt for this plant to cover their pillars. One temple complex in Bangalore has achieved a green over bridge on its premises completely covered by this plant! The only disadvantage is that it leaves ugly marks on the wall when removed. Also, it is capable of invading windows!

Syngoniums and some varieties of philodendrons are the other options to cover the walls or a compound. Syngonium, which has arrow-shaped leaves, clings well to the trees.

In its juvenile stage, it is a house plant. As it matures and climbs the support provided, it tends to yield multi-lobed leaves with around three-five lobes in each of them. In some occasions, if the support provided is a not thick enough, like a coconut tree, it completely covers the tree trunk. Years back, when I had been to a place in the interiors of Goa to attend a function, I was provided a guest room in the first floor of the house. Trunks of the coconut trees growing in plenty in the backyard facing the window of the guest room were completely covered by luxuriantly grown palmate leaves of the Syngonium up to a height of 10 feet.

It was indeed a sight to behold! Though the same kind of dramatic effect cannot be expected in space starved metropolitan cities like Bangalore, it can still grow clinging to the cement compound or wall and cover it to some extent. It can even be grown in pots and then directed to cling to the wall. We can often spot a Synogonium, completely covering the trunk of trees like mango, coconut or silver oak growing within the compound as well as on the pavements.

The only disadvantage when grown on walls is that once discarded, it leaves marks on your wall like Climbing Fig does. If you do not like that to happen, moss stick is a good option. It grows well on such organic support as well. At times, after completely covering the moss stick, it tries to cling to the nearest wall, even if the wall is covered by granite! This can be propagated with the help of cuttings of mature plant or by layering.

Same thing holds good for Money plant or Pothos, botanically known as Epipremnum aureum that has been a popular house plant over the decades. Epipremnum means “upon the tree stump”, referring to its ability to grow on other trees. The name Pothos is derived from its Sinhalese name.

Some varieties have variegated leaves. Like Syngonium and some varieties of philodendron, this can be grown on any support like live tree or cement wall. (In fact, Philodendron means love for trees). If the variety with big leaves is allowed to grow on a cement wall, it may not be able to sustain its own weight after a while and detach itself from the wall and fall. However, it grows well up to a certain height.

While it clings to the surface with some of its aerial roots, just like Syngonium and some varieties of Philodendrons, it draws nutrients from the atmosphere with its somewhat succulent aerial roots. Some roots on lower level show geotropic movement and eventually reach the ground and perform the function of normal roots. It can even grow well horizontally and because of its rampant growth, is considered as invasive species in countries like Ceylon. It can be propagated by mature cuttings.

All of the above plants, except Climbing Fig, belong to the family Araceae (Colocasia or Saame gadde family). All of these are pest and drought resistant, and do not need much space and maintenance. Hence, they are much in demand among garden enthusiasts especially the city-based ones, who generally face time, water and space constraint.