Alocasia ‘Pink Dragon’

The bloom is quite small compared to the size of the foliage. At first I thought it was a new leaf growing, to my delight it turned to be a cute little flower. Another flower bud is growing near it, another surprise.

I keep this Alocasia ‘Pink Dragon’ indoor near a bright west facing window. It gets a lot of sunshine in the afternoon. Once in a while it gets light seaweed fertilizer.

Beautiful Calathea

Indoor plant lovers will not miss to have Calathea plants in their collection. Though some say that it is not easy to grow, once you have the right condition, it will be easy to grow. Calatheas come in many shapes, sizes and colours.

Dividing and Repotting Calathea

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It was the time for the Calathea lancifolia (Rattlesnake) plant had to be taken out of the pot, to be divided and replanted. It had grown too big and over crowded.

Tanaman Didalam Rumah

Cukup banyak tanaman yang bisa ditaroh didalam rumah untuk hiasan ruangan. Selain untuk mempercantik dekorasi, disebutkan bahwa ada jenis tanaman yang bisa membersihkan udara didalam rumah dari segala racun dan radiasi yang berasal dari peralatan listrik, asap dari rokok dan dapur, bahan cat, plastik dan juga pembersih rumah (cleaning spray dsb), micro organisme seperti misalnya jamur dll. Tanaman pembersih udara tersebut misalnya Lidah Mertua (Sansevieria), Pakis, Bambu mini, Dracaena (sejenis tanaman Suji), Peace dan Spider lily, Sirih Belanda dsb.

Indoor Plants

Yesterday I redid our terrarium. After few years, one plant, the Begonia rex dominated the limited space in the glass container. I hardly watered it so it went unchecked. If only I regularly trimmed the plants, probably it would never happen.

Other indoor plants seem to be good.

Terrarium and Begonia rex:

Growing Golden Pothos Cuttings

Newly Grown Golden Pothos Cuttings

The other day I trimmed  our Golden Pothos (Devil’s Ivy, Epipremnum pinnatum) plant that had been trailing out of control. Trailing indoor plants like for examples pothos, philodendrons or syngoniums will eventually grow longer and longer. If we let them trail all over the place, they can look leggy, messy and very unattractive. These plants will look nicer if they grow bushy and compact and to achieve it, prunning is very necessary.

Golden Pothos is one of many plants that can be grown easily frum cuttings. Cut the unwanted parts inbetween two nodes. Each node near where leaves grow has aerial roots. The cuttings can be place in a pot of water to make the roots growing before transplanting, or can be grown directly in soil that has to be kept moist until the new plants establish.

From many cuttings from one pot of plant, I can grow them into eight new pots. One is a big one designed for climbling onto a pole (plactic pipe lined with coco fibre). It consists of four long cuttings. I tied them onto the coco lined pole with strings. The other seven pots are from smaller cuttings, they are in smaller pots. Very rewarding plants, you can sell them after they grow or can be given as gifts for family and friends. Golden pothos is a very pretty plant to make a room or an office pretty and also for cleaner air. Here around Melbourne, Golden Pothos can be grown inside or under a veranda.

 

After the cuttings have established, can be grown in hanging pots:

Pothos aureus – Devil Ivy grown from cuttings

Dracaena fragrans: Growing from Cutting

A forgotten plant! The many readings about Dracaena lucky bamboo lately have reminded me of a similar species Dracaena fragrans  ‘Deremensis / Janet Craig’ that we have. It was a wedding present for us almost 30 years ago which was still growing lanky and tall. It was not repotted for a long long time. No branches, just a single trunk almost 2 meters tall. It looked ugly and was still standing against the wall for support. Otherwise it would fall.  Though a bit dusty, the crown were  green and quite healthy, but the long and bare cane was just too thin to support the heavy leaves on the top. So I had to do something about it.

Yesterday I decided to repot the Dracaena fragrans which is also known as Corn-stalk Plant. It was named fragrans because of its sweet smelling flowers. Mine never flowered though! Anyway, I decided to chop it into three parts.

The bottom cane cutting with roots which I am sure it will grow new shoots. The middle cane, completely bare and rootless. With this one is a gamble, if lucky it will develop roots and later will also grow new shoots. Then the top part with leaves. I stripped many of the long and healthy looking leaves to help it concentrate more into producing roots. They say this top cutting will give me  a better chance.

I used multy purpose potting mix which was mixed with cactus soil (1 : 1) to make it more well drain. I used potting media that has no fertilizers added. Dracaenas are sensitif with too much fertilizer.  As tap water which contains chlorine and other chemicals not good for Draceana, I watered them well with rain water. If I keep the soil moist all the time, hopefully with fingers cross, they will grow!!

PS: Hubby was really worrying about cutting this plant into 3…. he still thinks that I will kill them!!

Update March 5, 2013:

The two cuttings have started to grow new leaf buds. The bottom cane with the roots has faster growing rate and the middle cane is much slower as the leaf buds still very small. The top cutting with leaves still looks very fresh, shiny and green. I keep the soil moist and give them light/very weak seaweed drink:)

Update: October 28, 2013:

It has been nine months since I cut our Dracaena plant into three to make three individual plants. The two bare stems have grown leaves.

Photo taken January 30, 2014 – One year after cutting and transplanting.

Lucky Bamboo, Aesthetic Chinese New Year Plant

Two more weeks, exactly on February 10 this year, many Asian people especially the Chinese will celebrate New Year, the beginning of the Lunar Year Calendar. As tradition people will offer some gifts to family and friends. Mostly some celebration sweets will be packed  in beautiful red packages ready to go. Others will give away special plants that are considered to bring luck. One of such plants is the Lucky Bamboo.

Though lucky bamboo is not a bamboo plant at all, in Chinese aesthetics of Feng Shui, lucky bamboo plants represent good luck and strength as they are easy to grow and having innate strength and resiliance. This bamboo look alike plant is slender and beautiful. Artistically they can be shaped into eye catching spirrals and can be arranged in many different styles.

What is this lucky bamboo plant? It is actually a plant by the name of Dracaena sandriana, Dracaena brunii or Ribbon plant. It is known as native of Tropical West Africa mainly in the tropical forest of Cameroon. The segmented stalks are resembled to bamboo that is why the plant gets the name. Although in the wild this understorey rainforest plant grows in soil, in modern cultivation, lucky bamboos are grown as indoor plants and grown in water that is free of chlorine. Mostly it is grown in a see-through container filled with pebbles and water. Week liquid fertilizer can be added once in a while during water changes. As an understorey forest plant, it needs shelter from direct sunlight, so a brightly lit indoor position is perfect.

Monday – Januari 28, 2013

Today I repotted our lucky bamboo in soil. It seems to me that growing in the way it naturally grow will be better than sitting in water. Just see what is going to happen in a few months.

Update March 6, 2013:

A little bit over a month since I have repotted our lucky bamboos in soil. Since then a new leaf bud had started to grow on one of the cane, but to stick with the original style, I cut it off. I notice that they are much happier and healthier grown in soil, rather than sitting in water. No more smelly water and roots problem! Now the canes are shinier and greener and the foliage also grow more luscious. I used the same soil mixture as the Dracaena ‘Janet Craig’: ordinary garden potting mix and cactus mix (1:1)… also a weak drink of seaweed tea:)

Terrarium

We always have a terrarium. It had only Peperomia caperata and it was getting too full. Yesterday I decided to redo it and I put completely different plants: African Violet, Peperomia columella, Drimiopsis sp, tiny little fern and some moss. I transplanted the Peperomia caperata in an old shoe planter that my friend V gave me a while ago.

To grow small and pretty indoor tropical plants that need high humidity is very hard to achieve in colder areas like here in Melbourne. To solve the problem, it is a good idea to  grow them inside a glass container, or just simply cover the whole pot/plant with a clear glass bowl. If you have an unused fish tank,  it will be big enough to grow larger plants to suit the size of the tank.

Terrarium can be completely covered (sometimes with a little opening for ventilation) or an open one. Personally I like the fully covered one as I grow tropical plants in it. For growing little cacti or succulents, it has to be the open one to have dry air and to prevent condensation.