Entwined/untwining

Someone has had the love and patience to plait these oleander stems. I suppose you could say that from the root up they are entwined, but since the stems separate at the top they must begin to untwine. When talking to me, several people have used the image of two plants growing round each other, supporting each other, to describe a long relationship, and I think the image is apt. Whatever I do now with my life, from this two-month point onward, my stem has been formed.