Devil's backbone or Ric Rac plant

Does anyone know where I can find starts or a full plant? We had a huge one and when my mother's beauty shop was broken into at Christmas it froze. (the door was left open for several hours during the night) It was given to her by someone very special to us both & I'd really like to replace it for her. Thanks

Are you looking for Devil's Backbone :

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1716/

Or Ric-Rac :

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/62665/

Or both?

I'd say Devil's backbone.. my grandma called it a Ric Rac plant but mom says its a Devil's backbone. ours never looked like those photos tho. It had very few leaves, was near 20 yrs old. it was a beautiful plant tho. I was hoping if I watered it enough it would come back from the root.. but it doesn't look like it.

If it froze, patience is the best thing--give it some time (and keep it somewhere out of the cold) and it may come back for you. Since it sounds like it was only in the cold for a few hours there's a decent chance it could come back for you (unless the temperatures that night were super cold), but it can take some time (possibly a few months) before it'll show signs of life. Don't water it a ton though--whichever of those plants it is, it doesn't need a ton of water and if you water it too much that'll kill it for sure if it's not already dead from the cold. And since the top of the plant is dead, it's not going to go through water very quickly at all, so it'll be really easy to overwater it. If you've been watering it a lot lately, I'd consider pulling it out of the pot and changing out the soil in hopes of catching it before the roots rot.

we've always watered it a lot & it thrived on the more water we could give it. Its been watered once a week for the last 4 weeks. It was.. 12 that night with a wind chill of I believe -15. it was directly in front of the door that was kicked in so it got the brutal cold wind. the water pipes froze a week later.. when the heater went out so it was down to probably 30 in there for 3 days. (i'd forgotten this part, mom just reminded me)

I was all for patience, I do not want to throw it out. Mom's upset enough to just toss it. The lady that gave it to us has been gone for near 20 yrs & its the only thing I've got. So I think I'll bring it home & baby the thing if i can keep my cats out of the pot.

I did find out this summer when we put it outside that it loved having the chickens dig in the pot & such. It grew twice as much as it ever does & had leaves galore. It was also getting watered heavily each night. It was so very happy looking when we brought it in for the winter.

thank you!

I'm surprised to hear that it was happy with that much water, but even so it won't need nearly as much water now since the top part is dead so you will need to cut way back vs what you were doing before or else you're risking root rot. It's still worth giving it a chance to recover, although 12 degrees is quite cold so if it was exposed to temps close to that even for just that one night that could have been enough to kill it.

i cut it back this morning. we left it at the shop so it only gets watered at most once a week. I was afraid my cats would dig in the pot if I brought it to the house. Its 70 to 75 in teh shop all the time so it should stay warm enough. thank you for your help.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that it comes back for you!

If it is dead (or if your Mom gets impatient and doesn't want to wait and see), there are a few vendors listed in Plant Scout who carry it: http://davesgarden.com/products/ps/search.php?search_text=pedilanthus&submit=Search

thank you. I couldn't figure out where to buy one.

greykyttyn. I have a huge one, I seldom water it , it is in my plant room, I am told that you can start with cuttings, I would be glad to send you some cuttings for postage, but would need to wait for the weather to change as we still have a lot of snow on the ground, and very cold, just let me know.


Doris

Greykyttn, how is your plant doing so far?. My ric rac? (can't see the tag) is in a hanging basket indoors because I have a cat. She would also dig in the pot if she had a chance.
Hope that your plant survives the trauma that it experienced.
Torriesmom.

greykyttyn.I haven't heard from you, do you still want devils backbone, just send me DMail.


Doris

Hi Lori, This is just a suggestion but around Easter time at some of the stores like walmart and Lowes places that order Easter cactus will also have hanging up some epiphyllums (ric rac) You possibly could find one at that time. Hope you find one.

i found some. Miss Kareoke was sweet enough to send a few cuttings.

This is a picture of my plant,it is really pretty as it has some shades of pink in it.


Doris

Yeah..!! Doris your a plant lady with a heart. good luck graykyttyn .. :)