Meet Clyde!
Who is Clyde?
We are excited for you to meet Clyde! Clyde is our 3 year old giraffe topiary. You might have seen him hanging out in the shade annual area or near the shade loving perennials this season. In the winter, he can be found in our Water Gallery, being protected from the cold weather.
How Clyde Joined Our Family
Early in 2016, our perennial grower, Jen M. worked on designing Clyde’s metal frame with a California company. Once the frame arrived here, we custom designed and built the wooden planter base for him and secured him onto it. In June of 2016, Jen M. spent an entire day wrapping the frame with paddle wire to provide extra support for vining plant material. Then, one Creeping Fig was planted at each of Clyde’s feet. Over the past 3 years, these four plants have grown together to cover the entire frame., creating Clyde as he shown above!
Caring for Clyde
Clyde gets 3-4 haircuts a year to keep his “hair” under control. We water and feed him as needed; check out the Leo trivia below for more info on watering. He hangs out in part-sun spots around the garden center when he isn’t overwintering in the Water Gallery.
A Little Clyde Trivia
He was named Clyde because when he was first planted, the Creeping Fig plants growing up his legs made him resemble a Clydesdale horse!
Clyde’s official birthday is June 21, the longest day of the year. Which makes perfect sense, right?
His best friend is Leo, the Leopard Plant, Farfugium japonicum (the plant formerly and sometimes still known as Ligularia tussilaginea). Leo is never far from Clyde; actually, he can always be found underfoot… just look for round, yellow dotted leaves near Clyde’s feet. They have an awesome relationship; Leo lets us know when Clyde needs a drink of water by wilting a bit. In fact, Leopard Plants are what is known as indicator plants; this is because they dry out and wilt before other plants. This feature makes them very handy to have in shade to part-sun gardens.
Clyde’s favorite joke is, “When is a door not a door? When it’s ajar!”
If you have yet to meet Clyde, we invite you to stop by and introduce yourself to him soon. He is always up for meeting new people!