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| This is a very old favorite of mine. Seems to cycle in & out of favour for home decor. Was a time I coudn't find one for 10 yrs, lately I found 4 of them. Anyway, from the family of Aralias (or Polyscias).
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by pirate_girl Zone7 NYC (My Page) on Mon, Mar 15, 10 at 21:26
| A better shot
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- Posted by pirate_girl Zone7 NYC (My Page) on Fri, Mar 19, 10 at 7:30
| Can it really be that I'm the only one who knows this plant & likes it so much? |
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- Posted by greenman28 Nor Cal 7/8 (My Page) on Fri, Mar 19, 10 at 9:47
| Hey, Karen! :-) You're not the only one! Would you mind if I shared some pics? |
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| I almost got one of these once! Personally, I only have a ming aralia (Polyscias fruticosa?) which was, recently, dropping branches, and then it decided to stop. I have no idea why it was doing that, because branch drop's usually associated with excessive dryness or overwatering, which I definitely wasn't doing. I hear Balfour Aralia's are less likely to do weird things like that, though. They have a really large on in the student union, here. They're impressive looking plants when they get that big. They seem to send up more trunks than ming aralias do, as well. |
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- Posted by greenman28 Nor Cal 7/8 (My Page) on Fri, Mar 19, 10 at 14:49
| When it goes outdoors, I try to keep it partially shaded.
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- Posted by hopefulauthor z5IL (My Page) on Fri, Mar 19, 10 at 17:46
| Karen, I wish your pic expanded..I tried, but it gave me an error..darn. Of what I can see, your Balfour is nice-looking..especially the variegation..how old it is? Josh!!! your trunk is gigantic..I am jealous..lol..Did you say your Ballfour is a Dinner Plate or Fabien? Amccour. Mings are like cats: Finicky..I've killed several over the years, but in the last five found a way to keep one alive..Neglect..Soil has to dry..Completely..And underpotted. My 5-yr-old is in a 4" plastic pot, near a south window. Cool room..The difficult part is figuring out when soil is dry enough, but not so dry fronds yellow..lol.. Karen and Josh..IMO, Balfours are one of the most difficult plants keeping alive...but lovely..especially when mature... Karen, can you post a larger pic? Thanks, Toni |
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| "Amccour. Mings are like cats: Finicky..I've killed several over the years, but in the last five found a way to keep one alive..Neglect..Soil has to dry..Completely..And underpotted. " Yeah, I know. Mine IS underpotted and I definitely let it dry between waterings. I got it four years ago when I was new to plants and it was in a pot with four others that I rotted out from overwatering, so... I don't make the same mistake again. I thought that the soil it was in was bad (it was. Miracle Grow potting mix. Very... caked. What it's in now isn't great. It's like, half vermiculite and and half orchid mix, which does manage to be fairly fast draining but is also completely useless at keeping the plant anchored in place) so I changed it out, but it still dropped a branch or two after that. And then it stopped. I think it might've just been age-related branch shedding. I'm not sure if aralias actually do that or not, but I was taking care of it appropriately, as far as I could tell. It looks fine now. It's actually grown reasonably quickly, despite never, ever going outside in the summer. It's probably also the reason I have a really bad tendency to keep my plants on the dry side. |
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- Posted by stinkybuds (My Page) on Thu, Dec 16, 10 at 13:28
| I've got quite a few Aralias at home, several of which are the variegated balfour, my favorite as well. They are all relatively small, the largest being my parsley aralia which is about 4 ft tall and very full and beautiful. I have 2 mings, one is about 2.5ft tall. It is also very full. Recently, I found 3 small ''snowflake'' aralias, which are basically variegated parsleys. They are very nice as well. I actually found those at Ingles, a local grocery store in North and South Carolina. That is also where I found 2 of my small balfours. They surprisingly have a nice selection of small exotic tropicals. I keep all of my Aralias in the brightest spots in my house (a large west-facing window and a large south facing window. I keep them indoors year round and water them only when the soil is almost completely dry. I mist them, as well as all of my other tropicals about once a day to keep the humidity up in the house, mainly during the winter when the house is dry. I also have most of them on a tray of moist pebbles. Other than that, I have never had any major complaints out of my Aralias, and they are some of the easiest of my plants, imo. They prefer more neglect than too much attention. I've never overwatered them, as I knew about these plants before I ever bought one. So, luckily (*knock on wood*) I wont ever have to watch my Aralias suffer the devastating consequences of too much water. They really CAN put up with some pretty severe drought. I've waited until the soil is cracking and pulling away from the sides once or twice (even though I know not to) and they didnt flinch a leaf. So, that being said, these plants are pretty tough, except when it comes to keeping them too wet. How do you all care for your aralias? What about pruning? I pruned my large parsley about mid-fall and it is sprouting new shoots all over the place now, even in winter! I know they go semi-dormant, but I dont think it really matters when or where you prune them. They grow back quickly and more beautiful than before! I hope all of you Aralia owners are having fun with these awesome plants. They are really nice to have. Peace and happy indoor gardening! -Chris South Carolina |
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- Posted by pirate_girl (My Page) on Sun, Dec 19, 10 at 13:07
| Hello again, Chris, Could you perhaps share any pix? I too find these really like a fair amount of neglect & letting them dry seems key. I haven't grown any Ming in several years, I just focus on my favorite, the Balfour. It's been a while to get back here Toni, don't think these are bigger, maybe a bit better to show the leaves. These were bought recently (last Spring) so I don't know how old they are. This one is actually from 2 separate 3" pots, 2 small plants potted together in there.
Other shots:
They seem to want drying out, underpotting & even to be potted shallow in the mix, tho' the pot I'm showing here now I potted deeper, just how it worked out & since it seems very happy, I'm leaving it alone. These are too young to prune yet; I grow them all on pebble trays & don't mist at all. I currently have 5 of them going (including one growing Hydro) in case they suddenly become hard to find again.
I just find these so pretty! |
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- Posted by greenman28 (My Page) on Sun, Dec 19, 10 at 15:06
| Those leaves are very pretty, indeed. The pics are slightly larger, too. Thanks. I can't wait for the weather to warm so that the Dinner Plate will kick into high gear again. Josh |
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- Posted by stinkybuds (My Page) on Tue, Jan 4, 11 at 9:52
| I'm not sure how to post pictures on here. I tried but it didnt work. Any suggestions? I'm not the most computer savvy person. |
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- Posted by pirate_girl Zone7 NYC (My Page) on Tue, Jan 4, 11 at 17:04
| Hi Stinkybuds (you sure that's the name you want to use?) In order to post pix here, you need to use a photo-hosting site first, then once the pix are uploaded there, then they can then be cut & pasted into here (using the 3rd line of code, or HTML). I suggest Photobucket as it's free & it's what I use so I'm familiar w/ it. There's also a 'test forum' somewhere around here for just such purposes. |
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- Posted by stinkybuds (My Page) on Thu, Jan 6, 11 at 14:35
| Thanks for the help. I dont have an account with a photo-host, so I might get one set up soon. As for the name, people can think what they want, but its actually a nickname for me and my fiance that a friend came up with years back. It doesnt have anything to do with marijuana, im sorry to say :) |
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- Posted by pirate_girl Zone7 NYC (My Page) on Thu, Jan 6, 11 at 16:47
| Hey Chris (Stinkyb), For those on the inside, am guessing it'd be more like the name 'fragrantbuds' or 'deliciouslyspicybuds' ;>) can you tell I'm biased? Were you going to post about these plants? If you've got questions, come on back & we'll see what we can do. Oops, I just re-read the thread & see you have already posted, interesting comments. Wow, you've got lots of Aralias, maybe we should be asking YOU the questions. I'm in NYC, maybe we can try making some tip cuttings to swap in Spring, sounds like you've got some varieties I've never even seen -- like the variegated Parsley, bet that's VERY pretty. Anyway, nice to speak w/ you & Happy Gardening. |
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