Beginner Gardening: Pencil Plant, 1 by plantladylin

plantladylin wrote:
Swampguy: What planting zone is Baton Rouge in? I have a couple of the Pencil Tree's, two planted in the ground and another that I'm getting ready to take out of the container and plant in the yard. My first plant is from a very small cutting from a friend years ago. She and her husband just break off pieces and stick them in the ground and they root. I had a very hard time rooting them for a long time. Now, I let the cuttings sit out and callous over for a few days and then pot them up. They have a tendency to get top heavy and want to tilt over if they are not pruned and I have never pruned mine so they bend and twist as they get taller. They don't seem to mind the heat and humidity in summer. We have had a night or two of frost over the past few winters but haven't had a hard freeze in awhile. I just throw an old blanket over them if we are predicted to have a cold night. I have a feeling mine will be goners if, or I should say when we get a freeze again. I have never pruned/trimmed mine but there is a photo in Plant Files: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53909/ of a very nice looking rounded one!

Good luck with your cuttings, I hope they take root quickly and do well for you.


This is the one I'm getting ready to transplant to the yard.