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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Florida Beauty

Nothing in our garden is more capable of thriving on  neglect than this plant: Florida Beauty, Dracaena surculosa 'Punctulata'. Of course, most of our plants are neglected most especially during the dry season, when they really don't receive any supplement water at all because it is always a big problem here. It started as a few stems growing on water in a vase, then transferred to a pot, which eventually conquered its size. I then transferred it to the ground with limited top soil, sitting on the calcareous rock. It doesn't seem to mind that condition, it still produced tall canes which produced leaves and branches at the top portion. They are so tall that i cut them to just a meter high during the dry months. When the rains come, it resumes its prolific growth.

There are some variations in the types of spotting in Florida beauty. So it is commonly called spotted Dracaena or Gold dust Dracaena. Ours is the more green variety, which grows taller than the other varieties. As it has more chlorophylls to make food it tolerates wide ranges of growing temperatures and very easily adopts to  growing light conditions. But we should be careful with our cats and dogs, as this plant is poisonous to them. Although i think they know not to eat it, no matter how starved they are. 

the branch overlapping it is the blue duranta growing above it now

white drooping scented umbel flowers

white flowers turn yellowish as they mature

fruits are mostly ~1cm in diameter changing color from green to orange and red when fully ripe

they are like small red lanterns

sometimes there are more berries in a single bunch


8 comments:

  1. that's the kind of plants we should be planting in our garden, drought tolerant. especially here in california where in the summer time the probability of drought is always in the horizon and we never get any precipitation during these months.

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    1. yes this one good candidate for that condition. But you have good water supply there unlike in our place in the province. I am actually planning to buy big plastic drums for rainwater storage, so i have water source next time.

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  2. I love the hanging flowers and berries...such a lovely tree that whose flowers resemble our honeysuckle vine

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  3. These are great plants. Many people have them for houseplants here and they are much smaller. What's interesting about this plant is that you don't see the berries or flower as a houseplant, but where it grows naturally....that's when you'll see the flowers, etc. Beautiful! I tried it here once but the sun really burned the leaves and you're right about the pets....they seem to know that it's no good. Now if only my cats would leave my spiderplants alone!!!:)

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    Replies
    1. Even if the cats don't eat them, the kitties love climbing up and down, and they do that everywhere as long as they can climb them. I didn't know this plant doesn't flower when in pots, because we always have them outdoors.

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    2. I have one hydroponics-potted flower in my (bright but air-conditioned) office, and it has been growing flowers and even occasionally bearing fruit (after I played the substitute bee) for the past 3 years. However I had it for many years without any blossoms, it only started flowers after I placed the pot on the floor and allowed it to grow over 2 meters high.
      (Bernie)

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  4. Lovely tropical flowers -- remind me of our winter home in Florida, many of the same ones grow there.

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  5. Any plant that lives despite neglect is a great plant. We have a variety here as a houseplant, and they are hard to kill.

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