Succulent kettle

“I took a cutting from someone’s front yard in Bronte while walking home from the beach. I bought the kettle in an op-shop near Barrington Tops. I just trimmed it very dramatically, I couldn’t stop…”

Lee, Mirabelle, Warke & Ubu, Marrickville

Black Mary’s umbrella

“By 1998, the corpse of “Black Mary” still lay rotting, taking up an entire bay of this building.
Tons and tons of soil were trucked in to form the mountainous backdrop to the story of Australia’s First Aboriginal Lesbian Bushranger. It held great theatrico-socio promise.
If our seating hadn’t collapsed on sponsors’ night, it might have been a different story and Carriageworks in its present gleaming form might not exist … but that’s speculation.
The lake they made downstage of the mountain had long since dried up. The live horses and their riders had disappeared. In their place were the ever increasing piles of waste and building materials from the workers who continued to use the building in its quiet years.
Rats were numerous
The hailstorms had punctured the skylights and let in rain. The rain fell on the mountain of unrealised potential.
Out of the old soil and filth grew this.
The mountain is gone (thank you Sydney Olympic Organising Committee – Ceremonies Department).
But this remains.”

Steve, Redfern

Aechmea

“My plant Aechmea is my foster plant. I became its foster mother when my friend Zanny went to Indonesia for a few months. I think it will enjoy its plant holiday in the hanging gardens.”
xx

Claire, Marrickville

Ali’s friend

“I met Sierra when she lived at Lanfranchi’s. She lived in the front room that looked over Cleveland Street. Her room was cozy and colourful and had lots of great light. When she moved to a darker room she really started cultivating the little garden under the stairs and all the poor house plants trying to survive in the warehouse. I think this plant was originally one of them, but I’m not exactly sure. After Sierra moved to a ‘proper house’ I went to visit her and there was this huge plant growing in her bathroom. It was so tall it had reached the ceiling and was beginning to end over with nowhere else to go. She sliced off the top with a knife and gave it to me. ‘Stick it in a pot and it will grow’, she said. I also lived in a new house by this time and was trying to establish a garden in the courtyard so it felt more homely. I stuck the cutting in a pot and it withered and disappeared … Even after six months I couldn’t bring myself to face the fact that it had died … And then miraculously … it came to life … Thank you beautiful Sierra.”
x

Ali, Enmore

Cherie’s ponytail

FRIENDSHIP – LOVE – HOPE
“I love plants. After 7 years in one house, I had many … then there was a house fire … Sitting amongst the ashes a friend asking how I was going I answered that I mostly missed my plants … especially my ponytail plant. In my new house I was beginning to start my new collection … My friend came around with his beloved ‘ponytail plant’. He gave it to me as a token of new beginnings.
What a beautiful friend. Thank you Chris. I gave my plants away when I moved to Sydney … but this one I kept.”

Cherie, Strathfield

Sumu’s little Lucifer

“’Lucifer’ arrived on our balcony one day – he may have emerged from the Jungle or been abandoned by his previous owners – we are also unsure if his current state reflects our neglect or his own nihilistic streak?
Society made him what he is today.”

Sumu, Darlington

Lucas’s tale

Mama Cactus

“On new years eve, 2001, a bunch of us went for a big bike ride
around to lots of different parties – in Darlinghurst, Surry
Hills, and Glebe. We figured it was a good way to get around
town because public transport and taxi are a nightmare on
new years, and it’s fun to ride in a pack, getting a little
drunker. Towards the end of our night (maybe half past three)
we were riding through Glebe. Jane was there, and Sara Sauce
and Elaine I think. We stumbled across a party which we hadn’t
known about and just popped in. Everyone loves a few extra
guests on new years. I remember meeting Lisa Pryor at this
party, she writes urban reports for the Herald now days, and I
talked to her about her unreal estate project. As we were
leaving near the wooden fence outside this Glebe house I
spotted the embryo of Mama Cactus – just a fragment in the
dust. I picked it up and shoved it in my pocket. A few days
later I discovered the fragment again, when I put it through a
load of washing. It was looking a bit shriveled but I found a
terracotta pot and shoved it in anyway, and put it on my
windowsill. It lived on the windowsill for ages without
anything happening, but one day a bud appeared (maybe a few
months later) and from then on it began to take off. The new
bud was so youthful and bright green in comparison with the
shriveled original stub. I really liked this cactus. Every
couple of months a new bud would appear on top of the latest
one. I took the cactus with me to Adelaide when I did an artist
in residence at the experimental art foundation. The cactus
traveled on the dashboard of the transit van. After a while
bits began to drop off the cactus. I shared these into new
pots and they continued to grow. One of these I gave to Elena
for her birthday in 2004. Jane and I painted “ELENA’S PETITE
CACTUS” on the side of the pot. but now Elena’s Petite Cactus
is much larger than her mum, and Elena tells me that the E.P.C
has itself given birth to many offspring.

The End.”

Lucas, Petersham.

See below for Elena’s Tale

CALL OUT FOR POTTED PLANTS

Do you have a potted friend that means something special to you?

Perhaps a hanging succulent that’s followed you from one home to the next? Would you like your plant’s story to be part of an exciting new project about these oftenoverlooked neighbours? … Then we’d love to hear from you.

We are a small team of green-thumbed artists putting together a one-off installation at CarriageWorks made up of pot plants on loan from local residents. The installation is part of the Underbelly Public Arts Lab, and will be assembled between the 1st – 11th of July. Your green friends can be brought in to us at CarriageWorks throughout this time, and will be carefully looked after until the 14th of July when they can return home. We would also like each plant to be accompanied by a short letter of introduction from its owner, sharing a little something of its history or personal significance to you (handwritten notes are most welcome).

If you are interested please email us hanginggardens@makeshift.com.au or leave a comment below