Garden of Life: This dragon fruit’s attached to its Geraldton home

Alan Headland wanted to ask me about a plant and its unusual behaviour.

The plant turned out to be a dragon fruit, but I said to Alan I had never seen one growing up through a roof like that. It had gone on over to the brick chimney.

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“The other day it was four bricks from the top and now it is only two bricks away,” he said.

“I reckon if it gets to the top of the chimney it will come down on the inside!”

Maybe it will, we thought. The dragon fruit has been growing for about four years.

I asked Alan how long he had been here.

“I’ve been in Rangeway for 49 years,” he said.

“Twenty-one years here in Cassie Street and 20 years over the other side. I was born in Perth, and my wife was born in Three Springs.”

I had never seen a dragon fruit growing vertically up a chimney, and you can see in the photo how it puts out what look like tentacles which grip onto the bricks.

The other day it was four bricks from the top and now it is only two.

In Geraldton there are plenty of warm sunny days, especially here in summer and this winter, plenty of moisture. But in this case, the house is built on limestone bedrock and the pitaya is on the south side.

Not a lot going for it in those conditions, especially for producing fruit. Alan said it did have one flower, but it fell off with nothing coming from it.

“Do you like gardening?” I asked Alan.

“Yes, he said. “But I don’t have any legs!”

He pulled up his pants’ trouser legs to show fine prosthetics. Under those conditions, and the soil being shallow sand over limestone bedrock, Alan is definitely limited in his ability to garden.

They are hoping to shift into some better accommodation to cater for his disability.

Good luck to them.

To share your Geraldton garden, contact Stan Maley 0428 230 029