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Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Surprise return

I neglected my ribbon bush (Homalocladium platycladum) last winter. The previous winter I kept it in the garage and watered it a bit more than the other plants. This past year though it was in the garage again -- a bigger plant -- but I didn't water much.


The result was a dead ribbon bush come spring. Really a shame because I loved this unique foliage -- it will be missed for sure. But will it?



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Sure, I had turned the fantastic flat foliage into a very unique hay of sorts...


...and all of the stems had become brittle brown twigs.

But I left the pot alone out on the driveway and ignored it. Actually, I did throw some Milorganite -- my fertilizer of choice for almost everything -- into the pot, and our torrential spring rains gave it a good drenching every week. But ignored other than that.


I was pulling out some weed seedlings recently and noticed some of the sprouts were attached to the "stumps":


Those aren't weeds -- the plant was still alive!

Its fresh foliage doesn't have the "ribbon" look (or "tapeworm" if you prefer the less flattering common name for this plant)...


...but once it grows out a bit it's fine.



I'm so excited!

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