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NewsJardinTV, the channel 100% passionate about plants, gardens, botany, nature and gardening, offers you issue 455 of its show "Le Quotidien du Jardin", produced by Nicole and Patrick Mioulane.
Pamela2584 asks us the following question:
I recently bought a Dracaena, but it seems to be suffering in the house. Would it not be possible to plant it in my garden located in the Landes?
The 177 valid species (and 497 synonyms) that the genus Dracaena (Asparagaceae) currently has are of tropical and subtropical origin, it is advisable not to expose these plants to frost, so growing them in open ground is almost impossible in metropolitan France, except in a few very sheltered gardens on the Côte d'Azur.
Here are the two species most commonly grown as indoor plants
• Dracaena fragrans, the African dragon tree is also called the scented dragon tree or wrongly Dracaena deremensis or scented cordyline, is in nature, a shrub or a small tree of 5 to 15 m high. In a pot, it rarely exceeds 1.50 m.
The evergreen leaves of 40 cm to 1.20 m long, and 7 to 10 cm wide, are oblong, lanceolate, arched and carried at the end of the stems.
There are many cultivars including:
• ‘Compacta’, whose very short internodes give it a bushy appearance, with very tight bunches of leaves.
• ‘Lindenii’ has cream-edged leaves
• ‘Massangeana’, with leaves 20 to 60 cm long, wider than those of the species, variegated grayish-green with a broad longitudinal green-yellow band and thin gray-green stripes.
‘ • ‘Yellow Stripe’, has a longitudinal yellow band on each side of the leaf.
• Dracaena reflexa, has various popular names: Candlewood, Chinese Cane, Reflexed-leaved Dragon Tree, Common Dragon Tree, Madagascar Dragon Tree or Leaning Dragon Tree.
It forms a shrub or small tree with erect stems that can reach 5 m in the wild. The lanceolate leaves, gathered in compact tufts 15 to 25 cm long, are dark green in the type species.
We particularly appreciate the cultivar: ‘Song of India’, bushy, branched, whose medium green foliage, edged with lime green in young plants, evolves with age into light green edged with cream.
• Dracaena reflexa var. angustifolia the Madagascar dragon tree, is a common indoor plant, often marketed under the (invalid) name Dracaena marginata. The end of the stems bears a ruffled rosette of about thirty fairly stiff leaves, 30 to 60 cm long and 2 cm wide. The base of the bare trunk bears leaf scars.
• 'Tricolor' is a pretty cultivar with foliage striped with two or more pink, cream and green bands.
• 'Colorama' is even more colorful than the previous one, with a very decorative mixture of pink and red.
Dracaena need bright but subdued light during the hottest hours of summer. On the other hand, full light is required in winter to prevent the foliage from yellowing.
A temperature of 18 to 24 ºC is ideal, otherwise the leaves sag and fall. The temperature should never drop below 10 ºC.
From March to October, water the Dracaena once or twice a week, reduce the frequency of watering by half during the winter period.
Fertilize once a month, during the active growth period, with a liquid fertilizer for green plants.
Clean the very electrostatic foliage with a damp cloth, which quickly becomes covered in dust. You can soak it in beer, to make the foliage shine and eliminate any scale insects.
Repot the dracaena every 2 to 3 years, in the spring, in a mixture of equal parts of potting soil for green plants, garden soil and river sand. Top dressing may be sufficient for larger plants.
Plants sold under the names Lucky bamboo or Lucky bamboo are sometimes called by the invalid name Dracaena sanderiana or ribbon plant. These are stems of Dracaena braunii and its variegated cultivar ‘Variegata’ which can be kept for a very long time in a vase in a little water. In feng shui, the plant is supposed to bring positive energy into the home and happiness!
Based on molecular phylogenetic studies, the approximately 70 species of Sansevieria have been included since 2009 (APG III classification) in the genus Dracaena.
Thank you for following us. We hope that this video interlude has interested you and that you have spent pleasant moments in our company. We invite you to join us four times a week for a new show: “LE QUOTIDIEN DU JARDIN”. It’s on NewsJardinTV and nowhere else!
In issue 456 we will answer the following question:
I would like to know if all verbenas have the same properties and which species do you recommend we grow?