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gabro14

Great new dracaenas!

gabro14
17 years ago

I have been searching for a certain type of D. Marginata for so long, and finally found one on ebay, only to be screwed over (he never sent it to me....speaking of which, do not buy from 'jwdobbsfarm'). Anyway, I wanted the type with one stem that broke off into 2 or 3 stems (I know you can do this by cutting back, but I'm too impatient!). Every nursery I go to seems to have the full grown ones with 3 or 4 straight stalks to a pot, or baby ones with a tiny stalk. So I stopped in Lowe's on my way home from work, and I found exactly what I was looking for!! I was so excited. And it's so easy to bargain with them...since there were only 2 canes in the pot where the others had 3, they gave it to me for 5 dollars! I separated them (because I only want one stalk per pot...I don't like it to get too bushy), and here is what the slightly bigger one looks like: (Thanks for listening...I'm just so excited!)

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Comments (9)

  • tjsangel
    17 years ago

    It's a nice plant! I love Dracaenas too. I have marginata, it sits in front of a door that opens all the time and doesnt object at all. I really like the pot you have him in too. Great find!

    Jen

  • birdinthepalm
    17 years ago

    I'd say , I've always loved the multi-branched specimens much more that the single stemmed ones, and seeing a very large branched one of my uncle's front porch in California really made me even more enthusiastic to have one with that habit. Unfortunately, I did find the appearance of those pruned ones , which btw does encourage the branching, not quite as attractive with that persistant old stub showing , where the first pruning is done, for the rest of the plants life, and learning a trick to encourage "pruning free" branching somewhere, I just bend the main stem down to almost horizontal or somewhat below that, and right away got new branches without leaving the "stub". Over time one can bend more and more brachs as they develope for even more heavy branching, if so desired, and then if the habit or angle of the branches isn't quite right they can be retrained to a more upright habit , using heavy wire or some other type of support. Unfortunately running short of indoor space one year, I actually gave away, that very interesting one of mine to a friend and have long regretted parting with that specimen, with it's many twisting branches!! BTW, the "bending" technique may be used for many other types of woody plants, that don't tend to branch much naturally without constant pruning!! I would also add , it only works easily with young "unhardened" growth that's not turned too woody yet, and older woody parts could break if trained late in it's life.

  • GrowHappy
    17 years ago

    You've got yourself one gorgeous specimen. Great find!

    GH

  • gabro14
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thanks everyone..
    I'm a hoya lover but the dracaena is one of my favorite (if not my favorite) plants. I don't know if any of you have seen this before, but the other similarly shaped Marginatas they were selling were actually braided. I've never seen that before. It was 3 braided plants in a pot (about the same size as the one in the pic), and each plant had the 3 offshooted branches like mine. And they were selling them for 9 bucks! I would have bought it but it was just too bushy at the top for my taste. Has anyone ever seen Marginatas sold like that?
    Oh, and Jen, thanks for noticing the pot...that unfortunately was much more pricey than the plant! But I just had to get it.

  • mandi_s1
    17 years ago

    Gorgeous plant - gorgeous pot!

  • nanw_4wi
    17 years ago

    I like those with the multiple heads, too.
    And the D. marginata is such a forgiving plant - so easy to keep!

    You got a nice one, and I agree that the pot is great, as well.

    I bought one at WM last summer that has 3 heads (like yours) *and* a knot in the trunk....it was so *funky cool* that I had to have it....which isn't the same as 'I needed it', LOL!!

    It's no where as near as tall as yours - in fact it's rather short but cool nonetheless.

    I'd post a photo, but my photos are always too *big* to post on GW....maybe I'll add it to my photobucket page.

  • gabro14
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    I'd love to see a photo of it. When you say "it's no where near as tall as yours", do you mean it is just growing slow? Or are some Marginatas meant to stay short? Just wondering because I have 2 baby ones with tiny stalks, and now I'm wondering if it will get tall or not. Maybe when the stem gets cut (like on my 3-branched one) the main stem stops growing? As much as I love this plant, I'm completely clueless about it!

  • nanw_4wi
    17 years ago

    Still working on that photo....

    Well, from my own experience, the main stem does stop growing in height, but does continue to grow in 'girth'.
    The new growth, of course, continues to grow in height.

    Mine was in a short/shallow pot, and I have a feeling the grower intended the plant to be short, to give it a sort of 'bonsai-effect'. ???

  • jajm4
    16 years ago

    gabro, can you repost the links? I'm just getting the homepage for photobucket, and i want to see your plants!

    I love dracaenas, too.