Monday, April 11, 2011

Surprising behaviour from a Dracaena

Dracaena Marginata. These are sculptured indoor plants that propagate beautifully from top-tip cuttings; they fork where you cut them and the tip you take is a new plant.

This 5ft specimen is 20+ years old, the first ever plant I got - as a "top-tip" cutting from a friend. It has now probably given a half a dozen babies of its own.

A secret trick is to get them under shadecloth and feed them up with high nitrogen, esp is spring and early autumn. Summer and winter they can use the protection of the indoors.

This year this one surprised me - put a strong growth shoot straight up from the middle. Funky.

These plants vary in price - in premium retailers they might be $150 but I saw one at the carpark caper for $30. A pot full of ten baby shoots was $10 and I bought one for Mia, but in a nursery, probably $45.
As my dad would lament, I can't believe how easily people get fleeced when it comes to plants. Getting a green thumb can probably save a person $20,000 over their lifetime.

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