Although the science behind the Type A and B personality theory seems to have become largely discredited,
I believe there is a strong case to be made for the Type G personality. (Type G’s, you know who you
are. Don’t make us examine your fingernails.)
When my Type G personality is in the ascendancy, I can come up with some really odd stuff for the garden.
For the last few years, I’ve been playing with height. Since I’m no artist, the results can be disappointing.
In fact, I’d largely given up and had taken most of the experiments apart. I wanted no more hanging
baskets to knock my head into and keep watered. I craved simplicity again, a trait that runs counter to the
Type G personality, so it’s a continual see-saw between the two.
Moss was a big part of these experiments. I had mossed hanging orbs planted in succulents that proved too
difficult to keep moist. There was candelabra and crystals and whatnot. For me, it is very difficult
to see the line where a project crosses over from the sublime to the silly. And too many projects in a
small garden can be a simple case of overegging the pudding.
One hanging basket with aeoniums, sedum, and Santa Barbara daisy was taken down and plopped in exasperation
on the top of a wrought iron plant stand. The stand is about 5 feet high and has about five pockets, including
the top-most shown, to hold pots. At one time, it held five pots of Sedum ‘Angelina.’ So hard to keep small
pots watered, though. I tried mossing the pockets and planting directly into the moss. More watering issues, as
the moss tends toward impermeability once it’s dry. So the wrought iron stand has been left vacant, a difficult
state for the Type G personality to endure for very long.
Even though just a temporary solution for the aeonium basket, I noticed how the ribs in the basket mirrored the
wrought iron ribs and liked the effect, so it’s stayed in place all winter. I’ve had a pot metal finial kicking around
used in various iterations of Type G projects, tried it the center, and didn’t hate that either.
Now with the daisies blooming, I’m liking it even more, and have seeded the Purple Bell Vine, rhodochiton, in the ground
at the base, for this vine’s amazing ability to drape and swag. It just needs the aeoniums to fill out a bit, don’t you think?
