I adore flowers, and besides garden plants, I also enjoy growing houseplants. I'd like to tell you about my indoor palm, a dracaena. It's about a meter tall with three stems.
I have a Dracaena marginata, or bordered dracaena, growing here – a common houseplant that is easy to care for and very beautiful.
This is an ornamental deciduous plant with a dense, woody trunk. It's quite large and can grow up to 3 meters indoors. The leaves are long and narrow, dark green-burgundy, and located at the end of the trunk.
As it grows, the trunk becomes bare, and the plant resembles a palm tree, which is why dracaena is often called a false palm. The plant belongs to the asparagus family and is not related to palms.
Over time, the leaves fall off, and stripes—scars—appear on the trunk, reminiscent of a dragon's skin—hence another name: dragon tree.
Dracaena is considered a capricious plant and requires good care to grow a lush bush. In winter, it requires bright light, and in summer, it should be placed near a window to avoid direct sunlight.
When my dracaena was small, it grew in my bedroom on an east-facing window. It only received morning sunlight.
Now it's growing in the living room on a table near a southwest-facing window. It doesn't receive direct sunlight, but it gets plenty of light.
To prevent the stems from bending towards the light, the pot with the plant should be periodically turned to the other side.
This year, new shoots appeared on two trunks. On one trunk there is one shoot, and on the other there is one large shoot and two
small ones.
So, my palm tree will soon acquire a more lush appearance.
Dracaena thrives on abundant watering. It should be watered with warm, settled water as soon as the top layer of soil dries out. Avoid overwatering, and the soil should not be kept constantly wet. This can cause the plant to become ill.
In winter, when the air becomes dry from radiators, the plant should be misted daily with warm water. Dry air causes leaf tips to dry out.
Of course, I don’t spray my palm every day, but I periodically moisten it, and sometimes I carefully wash the leaves under a warm shower.
As the plant grows, it needs to be repotted, as the roots become crowded. Every three years, the soil should be refreshed and, ideally, repotted into a tall, but smaller pot. Be sure to add a drainage layer to the bottom of the pot and fill it with loose soil; I usually use a general-purpose potting soil. Soils suitable for all types of indoor plants are now available.
I plan to transplant my dracaena in the spring into a special soil mixture for palms; it is also suitable for dracaena.
In spring and summer, it is recommended to feed dracaena with special complex fertilizers every 15 days, and stop feeding during the winter.
I fertilize periodically, like all my houseplants: more frequently in the spring and summer, and once a month in the fall and winter. I buy Biohumus, an organomineral fertilizer for indoor plants, at flower shops and water my plants with it, diluting it according to the instructions.
To shape a beautiful tree, dracaena can be pruned; over time, new shoots will form at the cut site. To stimulate shoot growth, place a clear plastic bag over the pruned trunk, regularly moistening the stem with water. Dracaena trunks can be shortened to any length.
I never pruned my palm; I felt sorry for damaging it. Although I often thought about cutting off the most crooked stem, rooting it, and trying to propagate another new dracaena.
Folk beliefs and signs about dracaena
Here are some interesting signs I found on the Internet:
- According to popular belief, dracaena is considered a lucky sign, a tree of happiness, and should grow in every family, attracting happiness, love, and prosperity to the home.
- A house palm purifies the air in the apartment, wards off evil spirits, protects household members from misfortunes, adversity, and illness, attracts prosperity and good fortune, and removes negative energy. To remove negativity, simply touch and stroke the dracaena leaves, and your mood will immediately improve.
- If a dracaena tree has three shoots growing from its trunk, the tree is a talisman for financial stability and happiness in family life.
- A palm tree with five shoots promises an increase in finances.
- Dracaena heptasponica is an ideal protector of health and accumulator of positive energy.
- If you were able to grow 21 shoots on your plant, then fabulous wealth awaits you soon.
- And a blooming dracaena signifies great financial success.