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

Still kickin’ on…

“Still Kickin’ was given to me when I was pregnant with my oldest—- sorry, only baby, who is now 6 months old. I left it at a friend’s place & it has suffered a lot – but there’s one beautiful pink & green leaf, very new & shiny, still going!”

Emma, Redfern

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

Mr Horizontal

“Mr Horizontal was salvaged from the hard rubbish from just up the street from my house. He was pretty sick & is still lying down”

Marty, Forest Lodge

Charlotte’s Garden

“Even though I don’t have a garden nature has provided me with these plants that never seem to die, they need very little looking after. I am 83 years old and I have lost much agility that is required to look after a garden. Therefore these evergreen succulents provide me with much pleasure and will do so in the years that I have ahead of me.”

Charlotte, Bondi

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

David’s

“This plant is the last surviving plant from my mother. She died 6 years ago & all the others have died. She had a spikey but beautiful character, much like a cactus.”

David, Newtown

Brenda’s Gin

“A twig of a tree
in the empty
vessel of the
Empire’s tears.
Monkey do, monkey
see, monkey fears.”

Brenda, Haberfield

Talking about the Hanging Gardens

by Underbelly Public Arts Lab and Festival

Artists: Makeshift and Nobody
Editor: Dylan Behan
Mostly filmed by: Dom Santangelo
Music: Meem

Privet rave

One Bonsai Privet’s Story

“Twenty-five years ago I was removed from a chook pen in postcode 2454
and put in a pot.

What could I do to stop it? Nothing.

What have I done about it? Adapted

The carer is not so smart and endlessly resists the reality of being
root bound in a pot.

But we Privets are hardy, so I soldier on, or endure, as a less war
like species would probably say.

If they could.

And it’s not all bad. I listen to Bach, and am treated with moderate
respect.”

Paula, Redfern

chiara’s tale

This plant was left on the desk one early morning.
We loved the presence of a little jumping spider!
Grazie Chiara!

FRA ‘N CESCA

“Fra ‘n Cesca are my two little succulents! They have been living with us since the day I went out to Glebe’s market to find a present for my sister’s birthday – I got her a pendant and two plants for me on that day.

My sister’s name is Francesca (Fra n Cesca) and she loves succulents! Back home, in Milan, Italy she has at least 20 different types of these plants and it was a tradition for me to bring her a little succulent on my way back from every travel. Now I am in Australia. I have been living in Sydney for 15 months and I miss her really heaps, but unfortunately I haven’t go back yet. That’s why I have Cesca ‘n Fra in my house…I’ve shown their pics to the “real” Francesca, and she loves them (Cesca is her favourite). They are lovely little succulent, that remind me of my younger sister! I love them!”

Chiara, Redfern

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

ali’s tale

Yesterday was a great day for the Hanging Gardens & Other Tales.
Many willing plant lovers parted themselves from special friends, to enrich the display of beautiful tales.
below is the tale told by Ali’s green friends:

“I thought I was a total brown-thumb, death to plants, until the day my ex-girlfriend took me around her garden and picked a little pup off each of her favourite succulents, sent me home cradling them gently in my lap. Watching those little plants thrive inspired me like nothing else. I was out every morning exclaiming over each new millimetre of growth. An obsession was born.
Last time I moved house I brought two trailer loads of plants with me.
Finding intriguing objects to contain my plants is my secondary obsession. Tea-pots, tea-cups, colanders, saucepans & boots have all served.
These two plants are descendants of the pups that kick-started this whole obsession.”

Ali, Newtown

Thorny tales

“This plant was given to me as a gift during a Polish christmas celebration. It propagates very easily, you just break a branch off and stick it in the ground, and that’s how I received it. My friend has given away many of these plants, and I have continued to break off parts and give them them away also. This one plant is spreading far and wide.”

Garth, Waterloo
Crown of Thorns

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