And Then This Happened

A while ago - not sure exactly what with days blurring somewhat with the self isolation and all but probably about six or seven weeks ago - I decided one of the dracaena fragrans which live in pots in a sheltered spot on my back veranda didn't look too happy. Since its common name is the happy plant I thought I should do something about it. So I chopped off its crown of leaves.

This may seem harsh but in fact it's a plant that can easily be propagated this way as my plant savvy sister-in-law reminded me. So there I was with a sad looking trunk in one pot and the crown sitting in the shade with its base resting on top of the potting mix of another pot. From there I pretty much left both to their own devices just keeping the potting mix damp and noting as I did that the crown still looked healthy.

Then I hurt my back. This is not an uncommon happening ever since a fall I had many years ago. I turn the wrong way, bend awkwardly, sneeze, cough, whatever and my back seizes up. It means though that I am very limited as to what I can do especially with arthritic knees that that don't take kindly to bending. So for the next few weeks it was pretty much just hosing all my potted plants from a height and hoping. In the last few days, though, I have finally been able to bend and this is what I found.

This is the decapitated crown which now has a stem of about 10 centimetres and is well on its way to being a new and healthy plant.

Meanwhile the apparently dead trunk it came from is already shooting in two places so it looks like I'll end up with a happy plant with two crowns.









Lovely as this is it's created something of a problem because much as I'd love to have one or both of them inside we share our house with an inside cat and the leaves are toxic. Given how much cat grass he eats bringing them in is a risk I'm not prepared to take. I'm not at all sure either that I have room for three of them on my veranda. Pisces doesn't think I have room for two, truth be told. Still I'm not letting that bother me too much for now. I won't really have to make a decision for some months to come and by then I'm sure I'll have found a solution.

Well That Was a Surprise

though I don't know why I felt that way. Let me tell you the story.

I've been working a lot in the garden over the last few days and have been going in and out totally focussed on what I had to do next - and obviously not paying enough attention to what was happening around me. That's how I happened to miss what was going on with this plant.

This is a Dracaena fragrans - better known as a happy plant or Chinese money tree. This one has been living in a pot in this corner of my back veranda for around twenty years. It's a bit over two metres at the moment and it would have been much taller if I hadn't cut off its top a few years ago when it was  leaning on an awkward angle. This means it now has two crowns and makes a beautiful foliage specimen, as does the original crown which I planted into a pot.

But back to my story. I had noticed that something sticky was getting in my hair but had no idea of where it was coming from although I'd checked all around the garden. Then last night I went out on to the veranda at night and suddenly realised what I'd been missing. The happy plant was in bloom and the stickiness was nectar.

Although it's obvious now I think about it, I had never expected this plant to flower. After all, they're marketed as foliage plants but, of course, they must have flowers in their natural habitat, mustn't they. So here's a close up of what's happening to give you a better idea of what's happening on my veranda.

That it has flowers has not been surprising to others. When I looked it up I discovered that the happy plant flower opens at night and is noted for its fragrance. Well, given it has "fragrans" in its name, there was a bit of a hint, I suppose, especially as its leaves have no apparent smell. I have to say, though, while the flowers have a subtle, sweet scent it's nothing like the overpowering perfume many people complain of. Still, as you can see in the close up, only a few flowers are open at present so maybe this will change. I'll let you know if anything else happens.