Dracaena marinara tricolor. Give lots of sun or colors will fade.

I agree with Nj. Lots of bright light and allow soil to dry between waterings. If soil stays wet for prolonged periods, D. Marginata will rot. Toni

Kudos to you for separating these plants! Don't know what kind of ____ (insert preferred version of "dork") would put Dief and Drac in the same pot (assuming that's what was going on.) Totally different light preferences.

Didn't think it was possible but my opinion of L's just went down another notch.

I think you have to accept that if different plants are mixed in the same pot, they won't all like the same conditions.

We do troughs with up to five different species in, selected for aesthetic rather than horticultural compatibility.

I recently installed some "all purple" troughs: Drac Magenta, Cordyline Tango, Calathea Triostar, Stromanthe Amabilis, Maranta Tricolour.

They are doing fine - you just have to water unevenly over the soil surface.

Jon, that sounds like a pretty container. (Of course I'm going to say that, right?) I don't know all of those plants well enough to speculate how much of a mis-match they might be. Your job sounds like a blast!

I've done some dabbling with plant pairings over the years, some do great, other times you lose something. Went a little overboard propagating this year... May be considering some odd but temporary roommate situations this winter if the room stretcher doesn't work out.

SJ, your combo does sound nice, but watering needs of Marantaceaes and Dracaenas differ. Your containers must be wide???
Happen to have a picture?

Often, stores sell combos. People buy them, so they continue coming in.
Those inconsistent I've seen are palms, marginata and a succulent or cactus combos..Toni

What most of the plants we grow, other than cacti, want doesn't vary anywhere near as widely as what they will tolerate. If we set aside light requirements for the moment, we can observe that you can't grow succulents next to pothos in water retentive soils because the succulents aren't as tolerant of wet feet as the pothos. Utilize a fast draining soil that doesn't support perched water and you could happily grow the two side by side - i.e. if not for the variant light requirements. Almost all the plants we grow will do exceptionally well in a soil that remains moist but not wet, and doesn't support significant volumes of perched water. Imagine any plant commonly described as preferring high light and a 'moist' soil (Castanospermum australe/lucky bean?) and you can grow it in combination with a variety of succulents or other common houseplants in an appropriate soil if there was an inclination to do so.

Al