Random plant event: Dracaena reflexa flowers

The husband and I went up to Piersons last week because WCW told me that they were having their Annual Variable-Duration Post-Valentine's-Day 50%-Off Sale (henceforth AVDPVD50POS). I'd been up there once recently, in I think early January, and wasn't terribly impressed with what they had then -- it wasn't that it was bad stuff, it was just very normal stuff, and there wasn't a lot of it, and although I'd gone up there with the intention of buying something, as a show of support or whatever (they're still recovering from last summer's flooding), I just couldn't find anything then that I wanted to buy. This time I did, but we'll make a separate post out of that.

You'll probably have to click on the picture to see the buds.
Anyway. So the point of this post is, while we were there, I saw a Random Plant Event I hadn't witnessed before: they had a large Dracaena reflexa (formerly Pleomele reflexa) with flower buds all over it. None of the buds were open at the time, unfortunately, so I can't report on the smell. But even so.

I've never seen any other reflexa do this; I suppose the plant must have to be fairly old before it will flower. The plant in question was easily five feet tall, maybe six or seven, which would also make it the largest D. reflexa I've ever seen.


I wonder what it's like to be in the greenhouse when the flowers have opened. D. fragrans flowers are supposed to be pretty intense-smelling when open, to the point where some people have to cut off the flowers, or move the plant outside, in order to get any sleep at night. Personally, I've only experienced D. surculosa, and those didn't really have an odor at all for part of the day. Is D. reflexa more like fragrans or more like surculosa? I really would like to know.

Well? Which will it be?

Saw this at a competitor's and just about died laughing. Probably you had to be there, but I'm sharing the picture anyway. (Joke may be more obvious if the picture is opened in a new window.)

It does make me wonder what they charge for the fugly mums.

Lost causes, and not-lost causes

The half-off rack at Lowe's. Boy did I feel self-conscious getting this photo.
I enjoy, as I've mentioned, occasionally picking up an ailing plant (big-box distressed racks, consignment stores, yard sales, abandoned plants hanging out near dumpsters for long periods) and trying to bring it back to some semblance of respectability. At best, it's a good way to get a good future plant for free or cheap, and at worst, it's a chance to learn which gambles aren't worth the risk.

This is on my mind more than usual lately because right now at work we're sort of beginning to switch over to thinking about the tropicals again, after the long neglectful nightmare that was the spring. Specifically, we've been going through the old stuff, disposing of the lost causes and cleaning up those few that might still make it, in anticipation of a new order of stuff which just arrived yesterday right before close.

Tillandsia cyanea I got cheap from a grocery store over a year ago: it had bloomed out and was no longer especially desirable.
So I've been doing a lot of thinking about some trashy-looking plants lately, whether they'll come back, whether to give up, and in so doing, I've come up with some very general guidelines for how to make that decision. A lot of people, I think, are not as willing to take on fixer-upper plants as I am, and if you're one of those people, although there's no shame in that, a lot of this isn't going to be all that applicable to you. But if you are one of those people, here's how I do it:

-

1. Mealybugs, Scale, Whitefly

Even if it's on a 6-foot tall plant with gorgeous, huge, fragrant flowers and leaves like rainbows, that spontaneously generates hummingbirds and chamber music all day long, if I see a mealybug, it's out of the running, full stop. Ditto for scale or whiteflies. Enough of those sneak past me as is; I don't need to deliberately bring in more.

Mealybug on Cereus peruvianus.

2. Spider Mites

Spider mites may or may not count against a plant. If there aren't a lot of them, if it's a small plant with broad leaves that looks like it would be easy to wash off in a sink, if it's not a species normally prone to mites, then I might consider it. Spider mites always disqualify the following species: Hedera helix, Dizygotheca elegantissima, Araucaria heterophylla, Codiaeum variegatum, Hedera canariensis, Schefflera actinophylla, Schefflera arboricola, Ficus elastica, Ficus benjamina, Polyscias spp., Maranta spp., Calathea spp., Fatsia japonica and Fatshedera lizei.

Spider mites on a Ficus elastica.
I may be willing to gamble on Cordyline fruticosa or Dieffenbachia spp. with spider mites, depending on the extent of the damage, the size (washability) of the plant, and the density of the infestation, though this is less because it's practical than because I like them more than most species.

3. Aphids

Aphids, on the other hand, never disqualify anything automatically unless they've clearly been there for so long that the plant has distorted growth. Or if they're big enough or dark enough that I can see them moving around, which sometimes squicks me out. Aphids are too easy to get rid of to be worth worrying about. (Indoors. Outdoors is a different story.)
Aphids on a Salvia 'Black and Blue.' The plants are vigorous and look just fine, but they are bug magnets, and it's looking like a lot of the money we put into them is unrecoverable.

4. Fungus Gnats

Fungus gnats don't disqualify anything at all, ever. I don't mind fungus gnats. They're adorable. Like puppies. They're like puppies that try to crawl up your nose and drown themselves in your coffee.


5. Difficulty Level

I don't try to rescue plants that I have a hard time growing when they're in good condition, or that I haven't attempted in good condition. So no Gardenia, no Coffea, no Alocasia or Musa or Calathea. Basically, if it's above 7.0 on my difficulty scale, I don't even think about it. I have, however, scored some perfectly respectable Cordyline fruticosa (6.8), Saintpaulia ionantha cvv. (6.1), and Dieffenbachia spp. (4.5) before.

This looks similar to the Saintpaulia variety that had me so impressed in December, though it is in fact a different one. I found it at Lowe's in late March for like $1.50 or something crazy. It had been overwatered, but has come back very quickly and beautifully. I like when they're grateful.

6. Sunburn

Sunburn is not usually a problem. Yes, it looks crappy, but most plants will pull out of it, given enough time to do so. Sunburned Dracaenas are a particular enthusiasm of mine, but I've also seen Chlorophytum 'Fire Flash' on the racks at Lowe's, and they'll bounce back from just about anything. Sunburnt Spathiphyllum will also come back fine, so long as they're not having some other problem simultaneously (like being too wet, e.g.).

Formerly sunburnt Dracaena fragrans 'Massangeana.'
7. Too Wet

Rot and overwatering usually are problems, especially if the plant is coming from a big box store: if the soil is soaking wet, or the plant is in a drainageless pot, it still might work, but I'm a lot more cautious about it. I passed up a Asplundia 'Jungle Drum' I wanted once, because of this. Sometimes I buy anyway, and I've had mixed results: roughly every other waterlogged Dieffenbachia from Lowe's I buy makes it. Always pass up overwatered plants from species that are especially sensitive to overwatering, like Dracaena deremensis 'Janet Craig,' cacti, Haworthia spp., Zamioculcas zamiifolia, and Sansevieria trifasciata: the odds are very much against you. (Though see #11.)

Half-drowned Aglaonema 'Jubilee', saved from an abusive customer and partially-rehabilitated. It's going to take forever to get anything particularly good out of the plant, but it's eventually going to happen.
One also needs to be on the lookout for signs of rot with too-wet plants: mushy stems, bad smells, etc. Sometimes it's possible to salvage a bit of healthy cane from a plant that's partially rotted away (Aglaonema and I get along well for that reason); with other plants, by the time the rot is obvious, there's usually not anything left to save (Dracaena marginata, for example).

8. No Good Reason to Discount

Some places will discount plants just to make space for new stuff: they may have a torn leaf or two, but essentially they're fine. Those can be rescued with no shame whatsoever. I've gotten a nice Strelitzia nicolai that way, and I've seen slightly irregular Monstera deliciosa that would have been of interest to me except that I have too many of them already.

I think I paid Lowe's like $10 for this. It might have been less. I don't remember anymore.

9. Too Dry

Underwatering depends on severity: if there's no green left and the whole thing is crispy, it's a lost cause. If there's still some green, surrounded by brown, it could go either way. If it's all green but very limp, you've got a good chance. Again, some plants bounce back better than others. I'd skip over dry Homalomena, Coffea, ferns, Radermachera sinica, Hedera helix, and Codiaeum.

Asparagus plumosus, rescued from a customer who was I guess just not that into watering. The comeback is excruciatingly slow, and I may decide that I don't have the patience, but it's not taking up that much room so wev.
Other plants will spring back to life after a long dry spell, even if they've been dry for a long time. Aspidistra elatior is one of those, as are Yucca guatemalensis and Sansevieria trifasciata.

10. Too Cold

Plants with cold damage have a good chance of coming back if they like cold anyway (Hedera helix, Rhapis excelsa, Cissus rhombifolia), if there's not much visible damage, if they're known to be tough plants (Crassula ovata, Yucca guatemalensis), or if they're very large plants with large rootballs. Plants like Dieffenbachia, Aglaonema, Dracaena, and Musa, with tropical origins and big broad leaves, tend to be more tender and are probably not worth your time. Also bear in mind that although a lot of plants will survive some degree of cold damage, just because it doesn't kill them doesn't mean they're ever going to be pretty again.

Also the odds of survival are, as you'd expect, related to how cold the plant got, and for how long. Almost all houseplants can survive a brief dip into the 50s (F; roughly 10-16C): they may drop some leaves, but it usually won't kill them. On the other hand, most of them will die from sustained temperatures in the 30s (4C to -2C), and only a rugged few will come back from 20s.

11. Propagatability

Sometimes plants aren't ever going to look any better than they do already, but they may be a decent source of raw material for propagation. A thoroughly trashed Syngonium, Epipremnum, vining Philodendron, Aglaonema, Cissus, Hoya, Begonia, Ficus, Peperomia, Cordyline, Tradescantia, Sansevieria, Echeveria, Zamioculcas, Sedum, etc., may still be perfectly good for starting a new plant: the question is just, how long do you want to wait for it, and how much room are you willing to devote to it? A plant that's too far gone may, of course, still not make it, but I've managed to propagate a lot of plants from bits and pieces. Peperomia caperata is particularly valuable in this respect: as we have seen a couple times, all you need is a single moderately healthy leaf and some time. Zamioculcas is likewise, except for needing considerably more time.
Discounted Syngonium podophyllum from Lowes.
Also a discounted Syngonium podophyllum from Lowe's, except this one's been turned into cuttings.
Bromeliads also tend to fall especially into this category. Guzmania, Aechmea, and Vriesea, specifically, are all usually discounted after the blooming period is over, so if you're willing to invest the time, you can get five or six plants for the price of half of one. This can be a pretty good deal, but you do have to make a bit of a commitment. I think Vriesea splendens is plenty attractive even when not in bloom, so it's consequently an especially good prospect, though it also tends to be more expensive than most, even when discounted, and because it's still attractive when not in bloom, I think it's often held at full price longer. It's good to check bromeliads for root rot before getting excited, but if the roots are still working to anchor the plant, there shouldn't be a problem.

Baby Zamioculcas zamiifolia from a leaflet I grabbed from the floor of a competitor, well over a year ago. (They would have just thrown it away, and it was already broken off. Also this was before I had my present job, so they weren't a competitor at the time, exactly.)

12. Wouldn't Know a Good Thing if it Bit Them on the Ass

My Hylocereus was discounted when I bought it, because it had been the base for a graft, and the graft fell off. I didn't care about the lurid red Gymnocalycium anyway, so I wound up getting the plant that I wanted, for half the original price, and with some of the work of de-grafting done for me already.

Hylocereus undatus.

13. Repetitions

Plants that you have had before, and cared for successfully, are more likely to work out as rescues, for the obvious reason that you already have some idea what these plants want and how they communicate.

My third Dracaena fragrans 'Massangeana' rescue. This is a piece that got broken off of a plant we got in the last tropicals shipment, in March. I rooted it in water, planted it, and I think I'm going to wind up keeping this one.

-

So those are the basic ideas. Most of it's pretty common sense, really.

My employer, incidentally, doesn't put tropical plants on clearance ever: it's something I've talked to her about before, and the gist of the logic is, if the plant could be brought back to respectability, then we should just do that and sell it at full price, and if it can't be brought back to respectability, then we shouldn't be selling it to the customers under any circumstances, discounted or not. This, I think, is a little oversimplified (yes, we could put $25 worth of man-hours into bringing back a Peperomia with one good leaf, but if we're then going to turn around and sell it for $3.50, we'd be money ahead to just put it on clearance, no?), but she worries about us getting a reputation for having trashy plants.

I agree that this should be a concern. We aren't going to have the cheapest plants in the area, ever -- it's just not possible, given our size and suppliers and stuff -- so the least we could do is try to have nice plants, and unusual plants. People will still buy from us if ours look the best and if we have stuff nobody else has. (Although, it's difficult to have the best-looking plants when everybody else gets them straight from the supplier looking perfect, has them a week or two, and then puts them on clearance, without ever having to put any time into caring for them. Plus the competition can buy them cheaper to begin with. I think this may be a losing fight. Hence the pushing to get different stuff, weird stuff, etc., so that at least we can have stuff that nobody else does.) So I try to maintain everything as best as I can, but I don't think there's anything necessarily trashy about repricing things that aren't selling.

WCW agrees. If we can't get permission for discounts, we have to look for other options, and what we've come up with instead is, anything that looks unhappy gets brought into a back room, or is shoved under a table, and has to fend for itself. If it comes back, then awesome, we'll put it back out and sell it; if it won't, then it gets thrown away, chopped to pieces and propagated, or it follows one of us home. Benign neglect in a new location does sometimes work, though it's not an especially efficient way to go about fixing things up, and sometimes, depending on what kind of space is available, we may end up displaying crappy-looking merchandise anyway.

Don't look at me like that. Like your job doesn't involve catch-22s too.

Milestone: #s 399 and 400

I don't know if anybody bothers to watch the running plant population number in my profile in the sidebar or not, but yesterday the husband and I went to Cedar Rapids, and stopped at three plant places, and bought plants #399 and 400, below, for a grand total of like $14 and change.

(L-R) Dieffenbachia 'Tiki,' Podocarpus macrophyllus

I don't need this, obviously. Nobody really ever needs more than about 350 plants. (Maybe 375, if you really like plants.) It already takes way too much time to water everything, and that's especially problematic now that I'm starting to spend increasing amounts of time watering at work, too.

But the prices on both plants were very good, and I'm in the process of working on the Dieffenbachia profile now, which I have the unfortunate habit, when I'm writing a profile, of buying every new variety I see of whatever plant I'm writing about.¹ (God help me when we get to Phalaenopsis.) So, 400. They're not all going to stay around indefinitely, or at least that's the plan, but for right now . . . well, for right now, I need to be watering things.

-

¹ For what it's worth, the Dieffenbachia post is shaping up to be crazysexyeducational, probably a two-parter like Sansevieria trifasciata (Part I; Part II) and almost certainly in my personal three favorite plant profiles. Plus I'm getting very, very fast at typing the word "Dieffenbachia."
I don't, on the other hand, have any idea when it might be posted, or how readable people will find it.

The AVDPVD50POS, and other matters

Assorted items for your amusement:

1) An author photo has been added to the sidebar. Certain artistic liberties have been taken with the photo, particularly the part where it's not a photo, but it resembles me in the sense of having a similar number of limbs and eyes and stuff. (Picture was created using the Hero Machine 2.5 at UGO.com.)

2) Yesterday, the husband and I went to the Annual Variable-Duration Post-Valentine's-Day 50%-Off Sale (henceforth AVDPVD50POS) at Pierson's Flower Shop & Greenhouse in Cedar Rapids (uninformative website here), where I saw a number of interesting plants and even bought a couple, at perfectly reasonable sale prices instead of the usual outlandish everyday prices.¹

3) One of the two items I got at the AVDPVD50PS was a smallish Aglaonema 'Stripes,' which is not that spectactular of a plant necessarily, but I've been wanting one, and this saves me from having to spend 4 times as much for a slightly bigger plant from work. So, you know, yawn.

4) The other plant I got, for only $30, was a three-cane (2, 3, and 4-foot canes, actually) Dracaena fragrans 'Lindenii,' which cv. I had mentioned in the Dracaena fragrans post but never expected to see, much less see at an affordable price less than a month after putting up the post. It looks like this:

(Full view, at home, in bad lighting)

and also like this:²

(Close-up, at the greenhouse, in better lighting)

The immediate effect of getting this home was, every time I came around a corner and saw it in its temporary spot on the kitchen table, the thought ran through my head, It's like a photo negative! and made me smile or otherwise behave goofily.

UPDATE (9 Aug 2008): Actually, it looks like the 'Lindenii' was probably actually a similar but newer variety called 'Sol.' I don't know how similar the two varieties might be, since I've never actually seen a decent color picture of 'Lindenii.' 'Sol' is hard to find; I'm pretty sure somebody must be selling it, or else how would Pierson's have gotten some, but when I asked our tropical supplier in Florida about it, she said oh, no, it's totally been discontinued. (But -- Pierson's! How come they can get it from somewhere and you can't get it for us?)

5) There was also a Spathiphyllum variety I was considering, even though I don't necessarily like Spathiphyllum all that well. The picture doesn't show it well, but the leaves are sort of silvery-gray. The plants behind these are the regular green, if the contrast helps give you a sense.



as well as a few Spathiphyllum 'Domino,' the cultivar that looks like it's been shat on by the world's biggest flock of pigeons, which I didn't take pictures of.³

6) There will be a post in the semi-near future in which I explain why I'm willing to advertise on-line for places in Cedar Rapids⁴ and the Quad Cities⁵ but not the place where I actually have a job and a stake in the financial well-being of the place. In case you'd ever wondered.

7) Also I promise to get to the Hoya carnosa profile sometime. It's been difficult to write, mostly because there's sooooooooooooooo much out there that's already been written about them, and soooooooooooooooo many sites already devoted to them, that it's kind of hard to make it my own. Also I think I may be using the wrong "person" angle. I expect to have similar problems when I get to Saintpaulia spp., though in that case, at least, I'm almost positive that I have the right "person" for the job.

(Hoya carnosa profile post is up. Also I did have the right "person" for the Saintpaulia ionantha cvv. profile, which is also up now.)

-

Photo credits: all me.

¹ Whether because they mark-up their plants more than we do, or get charged more by their suppliers to begin with, Pierson's prices are almost always 15% more than ours for any given plant, at least for smaller plants (up to about 8- or 10-inch pots). This is okay for them, I guess, because they are in a larger market than we are and so they can probably still find people who will pay that, but it also means that the only time I find their prices particularly reasonable is during the AVDPVD50POS, and consequently three out of the four plants I've gotten from them have been during the AVDPVD50POS, the one exception being the previously-mentioned Aglaonema 'Red Gold,' which I had to buy because it was a fucking Aglaonema 'Red Gold.' Which, by the way, they still had one or two 'Red Gold' left, if you're in or near Cedar Rapids and you're interested, and now they're only $11.50 or thereabouts for a 6-inch pot, which is a steal even for a regular everyday humdrum Aglaonema.
² They also had another D. f. 'Lindenii' available, though it was not in quite as good a condition as the one I bought.
³ The silvery ones would be $11.50 also; I'm not sure about 'Domino' because I wasn't interested in it, and so didn't check the size of the pot it was in, but I'd guess it was probably also $23 regularly, and $11.50 during the AVDPVD50POS.
⁴ Amusing family anecdote: when my (much) younger sister was much younger than she is now, she misheard Mom and Dad talking about going to Cedar Rapids and got very upset because they wouldn't let her come with them to see the rabbits too.
⁵ This would be Wallace's Garden Center, which is in a bigger market still, but has more reasonable prices than Pierson's, a better-looking, more open store, and still occasionally has interesting or difficult to find stuff. I like the location in Bettendorf better than the one in Daveport: it's newer and larger. My Begonia rex-cultorum leaf sections (propagation post) came from Wallace's, as did my Sansevieria trifasciata 'Black Gold.' They even had 'Pink Princess' Philodendrons there for $20 last summer, but everything I've heard about PP makes me think it'd be too slow and too frustrating for me to grow, so I didn't buy one.