Tarev how lovely!!

Thanks Greg! That plant is quite a fighter!

I don't have a picture right now because I'm not at home
Anyways, I tried planting these lemon seeds a while ago. They didn't grow, after weeks and weeks. We assumed they didn't germinate, and planted something else in the pot. In a few weeks, there were little lemon trees popping up. I still have three, and they're about a foot tall.

These stories remind me of when I was about 8 years old. Coming home from school taking the back alley. Some people cleaned up their cellar and threw out all these flower pots with soil. Most had that shinny paper on them. I brought them home with me after making two trips. I thought I might give them to my aunt who always has house plants all over her house. To my surprise, I noticed some bulbs in the soil and they were started to regrow. This was around April and I got all the pots full of tulips and other types of 'Easter' plants. That was the biggest and greatest surprise of my life. Gave most away. Never had luck with anything like this again. It is something you can never forget.
Stush

I have been nursing this very short Dracaena sanderiana, it used to be taller, have taken care of it since 2008, then it started to decline in late 2013. I have decided to try and salvage it in Oct 2014, cut off the remaining growing stalk and the remaining upper green part.
Before:

After cutting in Oct 2014:


It was into Fall season and cooler downstairs, the cut off part started to rot again, so had to trim down further, down to 2 inches. At this point, I am just making an experiment, trying to see how far along this little cutting will try to survive. It is in a small glass container with gel beads. I added a few lava rock, then moved the container on top of our media device. That device is always warm, might as well use it like a heating pad.

As of today, April 8, 2015:
Little cutting is still stable, there is a long, thin root strand growing and some more root nubbins. There is a slight bulge at the tip, hoping a leaf will try, to come out. Still baby steps but glad it is holding on.


Cut-off stalk is still alive, not yet fully recovered, but still fighting:


Fingers crossed, hope the plant continues to go on. I can easily get a new one, but it is like an old friend to me.

How cute is that Tarev! A survivor! So is this lucky bamboo??

If saving some part of that is a priority, I'd put part in soil. Compared to other kinds of Dracaena that I have, this variegated D. braunii (formerly sanderiana) is fairly fast growing & vigorous in a pot. After a few yrs, 2 new tops showed up from the roots and I removed the much taller original tops to put in other pots. The variegated leaves to the left are the new shoots, that started coming up about a year ago.

Hi Greg, yes it is the one known as lucky bamboo.

Oh, I prefer to grow this one in gel beads and water, so it will stay that way.

Lucky Bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana)

Just remembered to add Hemigraphis (waffle plant) to this. Something ate every bit of it above ground last summer, and it's been growing back ever since.

Congrats on that Tiffany!

Tiffany, do you grow that plant outdoors year round? I can't keep one alive in my house.

TY, Greg! All I did was observe though... ;)

Deborah, I think waffle is too sensitive to cold for that. I bring it in with the other potted plants when Jack Frost threatens his antics in the fall. Seems to appreciate some direct sun for winter inside, then happy to fade back into the shadows for summer outside. Are you losing them during winter?

They dry up summer and winter. The real problem is that I keep forgetting to get them out of that soggy mush that they come potted in. By the time I remember, a day or 2 later, it's usually too late.

I feel & share your frustration on that!

Here's the Chrysothemis (flamingo plant) I mentioned before, coming back for summer:


This Anthurium was in a pot with other plants that looked fine. By the time plants went outside for summer, this Anth was just a stump with a tiny leaf at the top with a brown tip. Put in ground about 5-6 weeks ago, and it looks like it's going to try to keep growing. Now there's several tiny leaves.


This plant is Siderasis, brown spiderwort. It was just the 2 beat-up leaves when I put it in the ground about the same time, thinking it will either finish dying or come back. Now there's a bigger new leaf, bottom left, and 2 tiny ones coming up from the ground, by my left 2 fingers. The other plant bottom right is Kenilworth ivy, Cymbalaria.


Plumeria cutting from Oct 2013. Lost all its' leaves this past winter, unlike the previous winter. Finally growing new leaves after being PIG. Hopefully I'll get a flower to sniff this summer!!

Oo, wow, those are coming back nicely!

Planto

Got this lovely carnivore, Sarracenia psittacina last June2014, really loves the heat and as much direct sun it can get as long as sitting in water, lovely parrot- like leaves and lovely upside down umbrella-like blooms:
Photo in Sep 2014


Getting to know the plant now..it goes really ratty ugly and deadish during the winter months..a long dormant period. Makes you want to toss it out, but have to restrain myself since I have read it is natural for the plant to do it...oh...it was so tempting to give up on it! Just have to continue keeping it outdoors since it wants to feel cold, ignore it but still keep it sitting in water. I just trimmed off some of the dried out parts, and kept the greenish parts there.
Photo in early March 2015 still dormant and very ugly:


In late April 2015, it has finally started to grow new leaves yippee!..Our Spring this year has been cooler than usual, few mid 80's temps but it is awake now..it is Alive!

Have moved it to a lower glass set-up, this carnivore has a tighter leaf opening, and grows more recumbent later on, so hopefully it can catch more buggers for its food.


This plant really taught me to understand its winter dormancy and to be patient.

Looking beyond the rain-splashed sand/dirt, this ZZ plant has come back from the dead. I figured I'd killed it & kind of forgot it had been in this pot with a Sansevieria/snake plant ('Moonshine') and a piece of purple heart. Put the whole group-root-ball in ground a couple weeks ago, and that seems to have done the trick. The stump of the last leaf I cut off (because it was too awful looking to keep) is just to the left of where the new leaf is coming up.

I got this Ruta graveolens 'Jackman's Blue' plant last Mar 8, 2015. I liked the description it has on the tag that it only needs occasional watering, sounds quite perfect for our drought conditions, and hardiness to 0F is quite perfect when we get our cold valley inversions in winter.



Repotted it and I noticed it is not happy, looks languishing, seems ready to die:
March 10, 2015 - after initial repot

April 19, 2015 - Editing to add: that at this point, since plant seems dying, I decided to add some used coffee grounds, got lots from my haul from Starbucks..my thinking, last ditch effort, if it helps fine..if not..so be it.


After awhile I saw hope..new growth peeking underneath the dried out leaves. New growth under the shade of dried out leaves, maybe it is a cue to move it to a shadier spot.
April 29, 2015


So I moved it to a shadier side, which will also get some part sun, but it has more dappled sun in the afternoons. Great improvement now, removed the dried out leaves, it is back yey! And it may have been good timing this year, since May has proven to be a cooler month than usual. I am still observing how it goes, so far happy to see it has recovered nicely! Don't know if it will try and bloom this summer, but I will take whatever it can further give. Really living up to its drought tolerance, and I truly love that!
May 28, 2015