On my online workbook this week: Trained

Dear

This week’s inspiration is how creativity comes when we stretch ourselves… just enough. Not so much that it is frustrating, and not so little that you are bored- your job as a creative, making things is to explore your inspirations so that you can always create somewhere in the middle.

My tip for you today is exactly that. I grow my vines (and I actually grow quite a few in my two balcony gardens) without a trellis for support. Instead I give them a single support to lift the vines somewhat because they grow better, naturally upwards towards the light (negative geotropism). This upward growth is driven by plant hormones and is essential for reaching sunlight, which is necessary for photosynthesis. Structures like trellises provide support for climbing plants to grow upwards.

But then, the design fun happens when the plant is at a healthy size and you allow the vines to grow and search for the support themselves.

I grow my Passiflora vine not so much for the flowers (surprising, right?) but rather for the tendrils. The flowers are gorgeous but very difficult to condition reliably to last in a display for a decent length of time. See the Tutorial below the post for advice on how I preserve the flowers to last longer. But the tendrils are spectacular in any and all designs and even continue to grow in your design.

If the vine can not find support it simply tries harder. The tendrils grow dramatically long and eventually start to spiral in on itself. This is ideal for adding into a design, especially a summer design like our design inspiration for this week.

My tip for you today is when you condition the vines gently touch the extended tendrils with your finger. This speeds up the response from the tendrils and triggers them to start curling to find the support creating those lovely ringlets. See the pictures above.

Enjoy!

Every good wish,

Christine