My oldest potted plant is this fern that I've had for over 20 years! I'm embarrassed to say it's been in the same pot --and on the same little wood and iron stand--for all that time. Today I will repot the sweet thing...it's been performing its little heart out with only occasional fertilizer!
I have a mother-in-laws tongue that is about that age. That poor thing has moved with me several times, been neglected, and is really potbound. He doesn't even get to come inside during the winter, he stays on the porch. Thanks for reminding me Connie, I should repot him tomorrow and say a few nice thank-you's.
I have a corn plant about 22 yrs. old. I recently cut it off the second time after it was pushing against the ceiling. It had been cut off once when I got it.
I have some of my grandmothers Christmas cactus. My Mother gave it to me several years ago & Mother is 88 years old. She is still going strong. Thought I'd killed the cactus last winter as left it in the garage too long & it looked dead but couldn't bear to just toss it. Finally lifted the plant out & put it in a bowl of water. Had nothing to lose as thought it was a gone anyhow and now it is fine.
Hi fly_girl and Petra...(I'm so glad I "know ya" from the thread where we explained our usernames!!) I think our being able to keep something like that alive for so long speaks for itself...yes?
Indy, looks like you're been on DG for a loooong time! :) I hope I'm still into plants come 4 years down the road! Does a corn plant have another common name? Is it something like diffenbachia?? (sp)
Petra...that's wonderful that you have kept the CC alive that long! I usually buy those during the holidays and just assume they will die, (like the mums, Easter lilies, etc. that guests bring for a house gift!!) but I guess they can be kept alive!
Fly_girl, I just bought 2 MILT's in Dallas about a month ago. I re-potted them in ceramic pots with saucers and placed in front of a window that gets no direct sun, but the window is about 15 feet high, so lots of indirect brightness. I just gave them some booster (Medina 'Hasta Gro'). How often should I water, etc.?? I looked for them --at a good price; some were $30 to $40!!) for a long time, and these were each about 2 feet tall and were only 8.00 at some big box store...I think Lowe's.
They like it dry, so I only water about once a month. They're on the porch so they stay dry otherwise.
I used to have a philodendron for about 12 years. It finally got so big we donated it to a commercial building and they put it in their lobby. It was about 5 feet tall and 6 feet wide.
I wish I had my moms Christmas Catus. It was so beautiful. After she passed it ended up getting repotted and overwatered. I should have taken it with me.
I have severe problems with over-watering....prob why I never keep the Christmas Cacti.
very little over watering at this place. Mostly they are begging for water.
I have a ponytail palm I bought (in a 4" pot) when my daughter was almost 2 yrs old. She'll be leaving for college (A&M/Corpus Christi) next month and hopefully there'll be room in her dorm room (w/ bright light) for it to live comfortably. We had a "pot breaking " ceremony last month and moved it into a larger pot. Its much larger now...I saw a ponytail palm at The Heron's Nest Lavender Farm. The owner of the farm got it from her grandmother and it was twice as old as mine (over 30yrs old!) and twice as tall. It was gorgeous! I have another ponytail palm for my younger daughter for when she moves on (she's 15 now). They are such low maintenence plants, I thought they'd be perfect for my new, young "adult" children when they get out on their own...and it will always make them think of mommy!
A Ficus Benjamina that my Mother gave me 26-27 years ago. It went from N.California to Washington and back to S. California where it has been residing in a whiskey barrel for years.
Sherry
Edited to say, Can we consider a whiskey barrel still a pot?!
This message was edited Jul 22, 2006 6:49 PM
Dogmansis...what a sweet idea!!! (girls just match perfectly with pony tails...now what would you have done for a boy? I might do this for my grands!!)
And wcgypsy....I think a whiskey barrel is the best pot!!! (My fern went from Houston to Austin, where it has been moved 5 times!!)
This message was edited Jul 23, 2006 7:56 PM
Every winter I keep my Great Aunt's Red Oxalis for her in the greenhouse. It's well over 75 years old. The story goes that it came from a floral urn at the grave site of her mother, my great grandmother. My Aunt is now 91 years old.
X
I have a Hoya that is thriving that my grandmother had in her home 52 years ago. We have divided it and both my sister and I have given it a choice location in our house to grow. I repot it about every 5 years and feed it with compost tea. I don't have a picture on the computer I'm on but I posted elsewhere. I'll look for it. Pam found it for me.
This message was edited Jul 23, 2006 4:28 PM
Wow! and I thought I hade a really old plant... Asparagus falcatus
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/89722/
bought in 1972 as an 89 cent seedling...
connie, what wonderful stories, I'm so glad you asked this question.
Sherry
I forgot to use the big picture
Had this since '83, it's lived in 5 different houses and doesn't seem fussy about light, food, blooms every other month, drops the flowers on the floor, I've trimmed it back several times, I can't kill it. Same pot, same sling, this is a survivor!! Flowers are pale lilac and don't smell good at all. Someday the sling is going to collapse under the weight, and that will be the end of it.
Hey this is a good thread to ask this question. When you repot older plants do you just go up in pot size or do you root trim? Also I don't prune roots and change each pot from round type to square type. Thus aiding in roots not being trapped in the same circle. Oh I do trim off any curves.
Great question, Sofer....others will be able to answer better; I just pull it out and place in a larger one. I know if the roots are circling when you see them, you must cut some of them, but that's never happened to me.
Meezer....funny story...but I hope it doesn't happen!
Xera, that is the MOST poignant story! Please divide the Oxalis some day so you will have "insurance"!! I would give anything to have something..ANYthing from my grandmother's gardens. She had a Southern "swept" garden with NO GRASS..all paths and beds...that was meant to be swept with a broom to tidy it up on a regular basis. I can remember old grizzle-headed "Rock," their helper (yes, that was his name!) on the ranch sweeping the dirt, which was mostly sand, and thinking it was so funny!!
I have some heirloom oxblood lillies (schoolhouse lillies) that have been in a big terra cotta pot for 20 years.They were given to me ( 3 or 4) the first year I started teaching,1986. They bloom every year about labor day to mid September. I'd show you a picture but they are dormant now, nothing at all to see except dirt. So I'll give you a link. Last year about this time-- I took the other pot and seperated the bulbs--there were 78 bulbs in that pot. There sure were some lucky folks at last spring's RU!
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54021/index.html
Debbie
When we left for Hawaii in '81, I had to give all my plants away. When we returned to Austin, I used to walk by a neighbor's house and see my orange tree on her front porch. She'd babble how great they were in her gin and tonic.
I guess my oldest, though not usually potted, is the couch potato I've had for 37 years.
Very good bigbubbles...maybe she needs to make you a little 'cocktail' and then you can tackle that couch potato you've been meaning to get 'potted up' for 37 years. ;)
LOL...Bigbubbles...that's sooo funny! Now that I think of it...mine (DH, of course!) is "potted" but not that old!!! (only been married 4 years!)
Thank God he rarely looks over my shoulder when I"m on DG! He would be so mad!! :)
My plant passion began in the mid 80's. I still have offspring from the original spider (which taught me to share my plants) and my aloe (which spiked my interest in herbs). I do have three of the originals, all favorites and easy to live with so if I may, this is the Stapelia gigantea or starfish cactus or carrion plant...
This is the Beaucarnia recurvata ~ ponytail. 11 years ago, kittens knocked it over and broke the top out of it. I was ill, but it came back with multiple tops making it fuller. THis taught me that everything happens for a reason...
The third is a wax plant Hoya (var unknown to me). It has produced many blooms and given starts to many new plants, including another one that is this size...
Podster...(I remember about your dog Tripod with the crippled leg and your shortening your user name to Podster...yes?)
I love that thread about username origins!! And I thought you liked seed pods!! :)
Wow...that's so neat that you have the three (and probably more). Mine has kinda lived through accident, but I intend to give it more care in future!!
Hi Connie ~ yes that was me and my dog. I like word games so seed Pods was on my mind too when I chose this name. It didn't hurt that Pod was sitting with head in my lap at the time. I enjoy reading the user names thread. But this one is fun too. That is evident from the number of responses and views you have gotten. Way to go! pod
I have two Begonia plants that I've had for probably at least 10 yrs. Maybe longer than that. One has white blooms and the other red. They are just regular begonias, nothin fancy. I overwinter them every year. In spring I clean the pots out and add new soil, feed, and water them and they always put on a pretty good show. I think I like the foliage as much as I do the blooms.
Lin
I have kept the peonies,from the old home place,by seperating about every five years,and sharing .I think the first planting was around1923,not real sure,but I've been moving my cuttings since 1957.I only have the double white,with a slight pink from center. Mike
Heirloom peonies ~ how neat! My Mom moved hers after she left the farm and has divided with family and friends. I never thought they would grow here. We get too parched.
I buy peonies from Randall's grocery store here once in a blue moon when they have them...love them!!
Does anyone buy the Pink Peony bath products? They are made in Italy ....in a pink bottle...I buy at discount stores like TJMaxx and Marshall's...
TJMaxx and Marshall's ~ wow! The only discount stores our little town has are $ stores. We haven't moved into the 21st century here.
LOL Pod your town sounds like mine. My Mom, bless her heart, keeps trying to grow peonies here. The plants don't die but they don't bloom either. They struggle in this heat even in deep shade.
Lin
Pod....when you visit a "big" town...search out the TJ and Marshalls (owned by the same parent company)...half of myhouse decor came from there! Unbelievable bargains. I have a large clock in my kitchen that I saw for 100...got it for 15. at TJ. Just got beautiful shadow boxes of wood with linen backs yesterday for 15 each...one had a tiny scratch and they let me have it for 11. If they mark something down again for you, like they did, it's nonreturnable. Here's a pic of the shadow boxes with my nick-naks in them. Less to dust, now!!
Connie, that is a neat display shelf. A nice way to display a collection.
I really don't mind the $ stores. We did have 3 here, down to 2. We would take a lazy afternoon and go on the "dollar store tour". I have found many a flower pot or other garden treasure there at a bargain. Have to resist too much temptation, our little house is stuffed. pod
Another good discount place is Home Goods. I think Houston might have some. The one we had back home was really clean and well laid out. Unlike Tuesday Morning and such.
We are so far back in the woods, I have never heard of these stores. Guess I better stay here, would suffer a severe case of culture shock! pod
I have a citrus tree that was started from a seed in Victorville, CA in 1969. Let's see, that makes it about 37 years old. The tree has traveled around the US over it's lifetime. It was given to me by the mother of one of my old boyfriends in 1990 and I have had it ever since. The boyfriend and I broke up in 1991. The tree, however, still resides in it's pot here in Texas with me. I have repotted it only three times in the last 16 years and it is due for a pot upgrade. Also in the 16 years that I have had it, it has only flowered for me ONCE! Apparently it has some issues.
