‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying’ . . Aspidistra elatior or Cast Iron Plant

For many, many years we have had a moth-eaten Aspidistra as a houseplant. It lived in a too-small plastic pot but had grown to quite a large size. Eventually it was decided that it had out-stayed its welcome and was banished to outside the back door. This was about 5 years ago and since then it has literally rolled around the garden. The small pot was too small to balance its superstructure and hence the slightest zephyr of breeze was enough to make it fall over. It has spent much of the past 5 years lying on its side and indeed spent all last winter ‘lying down’.

Despite all this neglect, it has survived remarkably well and has come through the past two ‘difficult’ winters unscathed; it certainly has earned its common name of ‘Cast Iron Plant’. Last weekend I decided to reward its tenacity and give it a luxurious new home. It now looks rather grand in a large, blue ceramic pot placed on a low wall in the lee of a north-facing fence. I am a little concerned that in high summer the leaves will get a little more sunshine than it should really have but hey it has been in worse places.

The photo below shows the Aspidistra in its new home:

In the book ‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying’ by George Orwell (pub 1936) the Aspidistra is referred to as a symbol of middle-class respectability. I must say that I feel a lot more respectable now that my Aspidistra is so well displayed. Of course, it really should be indoors, in the ‘front room’ or the hall.

The Aspidistra is also famous as the subject of a popular song of the 1940’s ‘The Biggest Aspidistra in the World’ sung by Gracie Fields . . . . and it goes like this:

For years we had an aspidistra in a flower pot
On the whatnot, near the 'atstand in the 'all
It didn't seem to grow 'til one day our brother Joe
Had a notion that he'd make it strong and tall
So he's crossed it with an acorn from an oak tree
And he's planted it against the garden wall
It shot up like a rocket, 'til it's nearly reached the sky
It's the biggest aspidistra in the world
We couldn't see the top of it, it got so bloomin' high
It's the biggest aspidistra in the world
When father's had a snoot full at his pub, 'The Bunch of Grapes'
He doesn't go all fighting mad and getting into scrapes
No, you'll find him in his bear-skin playing Tarzan of the apes
Off the biggest aspidistra in the world
We have to get it watered by the local fire brigade
So they put the water rates up half a crown
The roots stuff up the drains, grow along the country lanes
And they came up half a mile outside the town
Once we hired an auditorium for a hot house
But a jealous rival went and burnt it down
The tom cats and their sweethearts love to spend their evenings out
Up the biggest aspidistra in the world
They all begin meowing when the buds begin to sprout
From the biggest aspidistra in the world
The dogs all come around for miles, a lovely sight to see
They sniff around for hours and hours and wag their tails with glee
So I've had to put a notice up to say it's not a tree
It's the biggest aspidistra in the world