a dinner guest brought this to me the other night, and said i don't know what it's called, maybe it's a small palm?" No instructions with it, and I sure want to give it the care it needs, anybody know what it's called so I can google it and see how to best care for it? I live in an apartment, and have it atop a bookshelf that's about 6 ft. from a large window that gets lots of morning sun. hope to learn how often to water it, etc. Thanks so much! oops, forgot to attach photo. need to figure that out and resubmit this.
wow! that was fast! thank you! I actually had seen photos of Madagascar Dragon Trees while searching online and looking through this site, but the trunks weren't curved like they are on mine, so I thought I had something different. (But now I'm realizing "duh!", I guess maybe whoever was selling these had just manipulated them in some way to make them grow curved like this - that hadn't even occurred to me). Well, I guess I'm good to go then. Thanks again, very much!
haha! Junglekeeper, you're amazing! after you identified my Madagascar Dragon Tree, I've been searching through all the threads here to learn more about them, and time after time I see folks asking "what is this plant?" and then your reply below "Looks like Dracaena marginata, Madagascar Dragon Tree". (I'm guessing you have that phrase saved so you can just copy & paste it in! Perfect! : ) After seeing how large they can grow, I'm now searching for the easiest way to keep mine small as long as possible since my apartment is small and I have no balcony or patio. I see they can be cut back. Hoping to find the least troublesome (for both the tree and myself) way to keep it small as long as I can. I'll keep searching, but if you know of any links, books, etc to suggest, I'd appreciate any info. (I seem to have a serious case of "brown thumb" and deeply admire those of you who can garden successfully!) My goal with plants has always just been to keep them from dying. The thought of cutting them back makes me feel queasy, but I'm sure once I read more about it, I'll be more comfortable doing it. Thanks again for your time.
Please disregard my previous post, Junglekeeper. Looks like we won't be able keep our adorable little plant, because it's toxic for our cats (see attached) who love to eat plant leaves. Thanks again for your help with IDing it. Probably saved our cats from getting very sick, or worse. Can't thank you enough - what a great community on this site. Very impressed with everyone's knowledge and helpfullness.
This is one of the most asked about plants in these forums. There's a good chance you'll find some useful information in the postings or by following the posted links. Then there's always Google.
We posted about the same time. Sorry you won't be keeping the plant. Hope you'll find a good home for it.
