Perishables

There comes a time in a house plant's life when it simply just must... well, die!  This money tree had a rough start and I thought I had nurtured it well enough, but I wonder if the soil it came in was too terrible for it to make much of a go.  I had it from about end of February to end of September.

It started with 5 trunks, down to 1!

I thought this one trunk might make it through.

But sure enough it yellowed and rotted just like the others.

I had received this orchid when it was in bloom probably close to 2 years ago.  I was never able to get it to bloom myself, and in fact it never had any tremendous growth.  The leaves slowly withered more and more and finally the new growth it DID have was so insubstantial I decided to just toss it.

On the plus side, I've freed up some cool pots and am clearing out some room for new babes!

New Babe! Money Tree (Pachira Aquatica)

This particular plant has an interesting background, but we'll save the details for another day.  Essentially, another rescue situation wherein the plant was received as a gift and neglected, I took it in with Open Arms (Mariah Carey song)!

The plant in its original typical plastic 4" pot, with the materials I used to give it a more permanent home in the larger clear plastic sleeve & decorative white ceramic pot combo.

I used some potting soil left over from a previous mix to fill in the space of the upgraded pot.  Of course, I laid in a layer of stones.  This time it was probably about 1" deep, and I'm actually using river stones as I ran out of my river rock, which is a little more jagged, finer pieces and less aesthetic.  I don't end up using these more "glamorous" rocks like I thought I might, so I figured I might as well put them to some use!  

The money tree in its final resting place - for a year or so, that is!

I believe this rascal will do well in low light or indirect lighting conditions.  I imagine its watering requirements are akin to my palm - it likes to be moist, but not drenched, and probably dries out pretty easily - I mean look at all those stems!  This will be the first plant I have ever had to actually maintain a braid with, so that will be an interesting challenge, but I'm hoping to get this sucker to grow several feet tall so it becomes a floor plant.  We'll see how long that takes!