Yesterday was baking hot. Today, while warm still, is noticeably cooler and very blustery.
Looking out of my office window I have had the long, new stems of a white-flowered Buddleja davidii that I bred a few years ago whip backwards and forwards from out of my eye-line to directly in front of me for most of the day. Naturally, when I went outside to video this (see below) the wind was far less dramatic.
Doing some rough measurements, these 1.5m (5') long stems are flexing over 70cm (2'4") to the left of their upright position and the same to the right. So 1.5m long, flexing 1.4m in total, that requires the stems to flex 25⁰ in each direction from their normal vertical position without being damaged. I get the impression that they are capable of significantly more movement before being damaged. That, to me at least is amazing! It shows incredible durability, especially considering that plants are static entities; growing in the spot where they are planted, often despite their environment.
With this thought in mind, in between work today, I have been watching plant flexibility in action, with trees, grasses, even solid bodied plants like hedges proving both the strength and flexibility simultaneously.
Below is a short video of Acer psuedoplatanus 'Atropurpureum', which is a form of Sycamore with a dark green leaf (top side) and a rich purple underside, showing larger stems flexing in the wind. It is very beautiful to watch and a quality of plants that I have thought too little of before.
