Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Sky Forest of the Thalia

That sounds like some thing from the movie Avatar and really, it's kind of close. Thalia was one of the first plants we bought when we built our first pond. It provides a taller plant scene to the water garden. We just didn't know how tall. The plant's leaves give it kind of a canna look, maybe just a little taller. The bloom stalks, on the other hand, look almost out of this world and can get to 15' tall.

The blooms are hardly even noticeable, just a couple of little folds of pink tissue like petals. The bloom stems are zig zags with pointed little pods.

 The thalias are a real, small forest that attracts all kinds of small critters like snakes, frogs and birds. This little tree frog stayed on this thalia stalk all day long.
 

As more stems reach skyward, it starts to look like a giant spider web. Even though the stems must be cut back in the fall, they are not very strong and very easy to cut. When the winds blow it is a real show to see with the hummers trying to feed on the tiny, little blooms. Try thalia, I think you will like it.