The Accent (Companion) Plant Thread



Dendrobium kingianum, or if it is a hybrid, D. kingianum is very dominant in the background. Lovely small compact orchid. I bet it has a nice fragrance on a sunny day. Your choice of pot is very pleasing combination. Tell us how you grow it.

Promenea Partridge - an orchid hybrid, small plant always wants the roots to be moist. I use long fiber sphagnum moss as media. Keep moss moist. Very bright shade, actually about 6 inches below a bank of 4 tubes of 40 watt 48 inch T12 fluorescent lights. (shop lights). Very susceptible to attach from snails and slugs, and this one perished a couple years after the photo because of slugs completely devouring new growths. Old growths faded away with zero successful new growths. Got to keep after the snails and slugs with tender, soft leaved plants.

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Dendrobium kingianum, or if it is a hybrid, D. kingianum is very dominant in the background. Lovely small compact orchid. I bet it has a nice fragrance on a sunny day. Your choice of pot is very pleasing combination. Tell us how you grow it.
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I grow it in a mix of milled bark and gravel and it remains outdoors year round in a humidity tray.

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A couple from today.
Mixed planting with ferns, Japanese blood grass, Japanese sweet flag, ivy-leaved toadflax and moss.



Briza maxima, greater quaking grass, with thyme. Would have been nice if I'd got them to flower at the same time, maybe next year.

 
A couple from today.
Mixed planting with ferns, Japanese blood grass, Japanese sweet flag, ivy-leaved toadflax and moss.



Briza maxima, greater quaking grass, with thyme. Would have been nice if I'd got them to flower at the same time, maybe next year.

Those look great, especially the first one. How long does a planting like that last? Can they be maintained in show quality or do they look good for a season or two and then are spent?
 
Those look great, especially the first one. How long does a planting like that last? Can they be maintained in show quality or do they look good for a season or two and then are spent?

Thanks. How long? It depends on all kinds of factors - what plants you use, relative growth rates, what they're planted in and so on. Anywhere from a few days to a few years, but the planting won't be in show condition much of the time. I tend to rework things, and swap them between pots, fairly often. I've had this one, in various permutations, for two or three years.



By the way, every post in this thread is meant to include a picture of an accent plant - so let's see one of yours :)
 
Thanks. How long? It depends on all kinds of factors - what plants you use, relative growth rates, what they're planted in and so on. Anywhere from a few days to a few years, but the planting won't be in show condition much of the time. I tend to rework things, and swap them between pots, fairly often. I've had this one, in various permutations, for two or three years.



By the way, every post in this thread is meant to include a picture of an accent plant - so let's see one of yours :)
CRAP I didn’t realize that! I’ve unknowingly commented on this thread several times with no picture. Unfortunately, I barely have bonsai let alone accent plants to accompany them. So perhaps instead what about this species I saw on a bonsai FB post thag I think would be amazing as an accent plant?

I think part of the reason I don’t have accent plants because they aren’t “stable”-I’d like something that’s presentable year-round, and that’s a lot to ask for
 

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Very pretty little orchid.
One of the roles of accent plants in bonsai display is to evoke the season (e.g. flowers in spring), so you might not want to have it look the exact same all year round. However, if you do then there are various plants that are more 'stable' than others in terms of slow growth and seasonal change. For example, this Sempervivum will just sit there for years growing slowly and sending out baby plants on runners (I think this is known as hen-and-chickens in the US).

 
I took a shot of this new accent while I'm bringing all the tropicals in. Selaginella victoriae, Selaginella umbrosa, and Selaginella kraussiana 'brownii'. The pot is by Roy Minarai. My hope is the tiny 'brownii' will fill in around the others like a moss but a little taller.
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CRAP I didn’t realize that! I’ve unknowingly commented on this thread several times with no picture. Unfortunately, I barely have bonsai let alone accent plants to accompany them. So perhaps instead what about this species I saw on a bonsai FB post thag I think would be amazing as an accent plant?

I think part of the reason I don’t have accent plants because they aren’t “stable”-I’d like something that’s presentable year-round, and that’s a lot to ask for

The Psygmorchis is cool, I've only seen them grown mounted, never in a pot. It would be cool to work one as an accent plant.
 
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