Beginner Gardening: Rooting Dracaeana marginata, 4 by purpleinopp

purpleinopp wrote:
Tap water is really confusing because it's not the same everywhere, a mystery, and the often high PH of it probably doesn't get enough credit for causing chlorosis, I really don't know all of the science, just read enough to decide that always using tap water is not the best thing I could do, if I have any options. When/where plants go outside for summer (and get rained on,) I think it's much less of an issue and agree, D. marginata is less sensitive than some of the other Dracs. My oldest tree has always had tap water when it was inside, whenever I used the hose to water potted plants while outside, and for a solid year when I lived in an apartment in 2006. I always thought it looked fine, but now think it looks great. Just different degrees of 'good.' A corn plant OTOH, can look really crappy from always getting tap water. I just find it easier to give the same care to all plants, and this area *usually* gets enough rain that I have that luxury, to use it almost exclusively while plants are outside, so I do. I've not always had that option either.

Below are pics of the same tree, first pic is from Oct 2002 in Ohio. The 2nd pic is has the same tree here in AL in the middle of the pic, the bottom of it anyway (and a weird albino 2nd trunk it grew a couple years ago.) It's been pruned time and again so it stays short enough to fit in the house and blew off the porch a few years ago, snapping the main trunk shorter than I would prune. The broken tops are now trees in other pots, and both of the current tops are new since then. Like FW said, these will put up with about anything (except rotting roots.) No matter how great it looks, it will discard the oldest leaf occasionally. But when a multitude of tips turn yellow/brown, it's time to change something. I'm still gun-shy about fertilizer after killing many plants with too much back in the day, and don't do it much at all, but I can say that that Dracs love water with a little pureéd banana peel in it. I give this to all potted plants while they're outside.

Savvy, so sorry I didn't notice your questions above. So glad you and your son like the mini, TY! The planter box is something DH made for me, then I painted it, and covered everything inside/out with urethane to hope it will take much longer to rot, being made of wood. Inside, there's about 100 drill-bit holes on the bottom surface, covered with screen, then landscape fabric to keep grit/roots from clogging them as long as possible. Then I cut the bottoms off of about a half-dozen nursery flats, leaving about 1/2" of the side surface. I pieced those together, laying on the bottom upside-down to make a gap that I hope is keeping the wood more dry. The 'dirt' is home-made, with some rough compost, pine shavings and needles, small bark, I just kept adding stuff until it looked as chunky as possible for such a thin layer. The aquarium gravel was added once the plants were in place, just thick enough to cover the soil.

When I put it together, I thought it would be coming inside for winter, but that was a ridiculous notion. It's way too big, heavy, messy, so it's never moved since it was put on the front porch. Porch faces south, it's at the west end, so under the roof to avoid rain, but gets direct sun all afternoon. Luckily, most of the plants happen to be very hardy since this winter has been so harsh, temps in the teens. Most plants are still alive. I've been covering it with a sheet on frost-or-colder nights, but not sure that's necessary. The humidity here makes amazingly thick dew/frost, probably very unlike the dry climates of these plants' origins. Anyway, if you use something small enough to come inside, that wouldn't be an issue but since you're also in a warmer climate, it's probably possible to create a permanent outdoor display, as long as you can keep it from getting rained on. When I knew cold was coming, I stopped watering my mini since it's known they will rot if cold AND wet (and have never watered it much anyway, just when plants started to look a little puckered, slightly losing plump-ness.) If cold and dry, survival is likely. I've only added some dribbles of water about twice during warm spells, and only near some of the plants.

At this point, whatever's still alive is what will be in there permanently. I'll clean up the dead stuff and add more hardy plants soon. And try to find more 'scenery' that can handle being outside all of the time, something for the 'patio' in the middle finally.

If you search images of 'mini garden' you'll get too many pics to even look at! Searching 'fairy garden' has even more pics, but I happen to not like fairies. The 'scene' can be anything - like a junkyard using broken toys, a tiny formal hedge with paved patio, steps leading up the side of a broken pot. The only limitations are your imagination and the plants you can find. I've been using the plants I bought to make babies for more gardens (couple pics below.)

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The main things are plants with small foliage, that grow slowly and compactly. Creepers are often used, but I'm intimidated and haven't included any yet. The last pic are 2 'quilted' gardens I made for tha' Moms last year. Glued fabric squares on, then a few coats of urethane.