Madagascar Dragon Tree (Dracaena Marginata) - UPDATE

 Excerpt from the latest entry to Photos/History page for Madagascar Dragon Tree (Dracaena Marginata) 

This summer has been uneventful for the Dragon Tree, until...me! I tripped & fell against the plant stand, knocking the Dragon off & of course, shattering his ceramic pot that was supposed to be his "forever home" when I potted him in July '25.

Luckily, I had a spare & here he is, Re-potted & "back to work". I could have taken the opportunity to do some root pruning , but the root ball was intact, I could see no obvious need to cause any further trauma to this plant.

He fit into this low-cut tray easily & I planted him "proud" to show-off his base & lower-trunk. He has
shown good growth this year..enough that I could tell the difference when I re-potted him.

1st Bloom on Pomegranate

 this copy exerpted from the Photo/History page of Dwarf Pomegranate (Punica Granatum 'Nana')

I did not expect this! The Pomegranate has produced it's first flower, which I did not expect to see, this year. When I received this plant 4 months ago, he was little more than a cutting..or possibly an air-layered branch & I did not expect to see blooms &/or fruit this year.

However, a bloom does not guarantee fruit, which would be REALLY unexpected, we'll just have to wait & see if he produces more blooms or if this is an anomaly.

Considering that he was up-potted just a couple of weeks ago may partially explain why a bloom, but we'll have to give it a few more days & see if any more appear.. he continues to grow, well beyond my expectations. I don't know whether to credit good stock, a successful transition to our environment, the recent heat wave & consistent direct sunlight or feeding him with a high-nitrogen fertilizer for plants that are considered acid-loving feeders.

News from the Patio

It's been awhile since I posted any pictures of "Jerrys Patio", so thought today I would share some views for anyone interested.

I finally figured out some workspace where I can sit & work on individual specimens..this will also be the new 'potting station'.

Central to the workstation, you can see my new turntable, so I can rotate the plants as I am pruning..don't know why it took me so long to get a turntable, but I'm sure glad I have one now.

Since this is under the overhang of the upstairs apartment, it also makes a ready-made space for my "understory" trees..the Japanese Maples, Flowering Dogwood & any other trees that do not handle full sun well.

Looking West, this is shelving for "sun lovers", the only location on the patio that gets full sun throughout the day..the lower shelves house plants less hungry for full sun, cuttings & young, newly-potted specimens.

 

Looking South, the patio wall gets about 2 hours of sun in the morning & about the same in the afternoon..the rest  of the day, it is shaded by a mature Magnolia tree. I rotate trees between the shelving, wall & floor, according to whether they need more sun, less sun or protection from the afternoon wind.

This photo looks back towards the west & shows the boundaries of the patio..prox 13 X 13 (169 Sq. Ft.)  Small, by some standards, the patio houses & displays my entire collection of "little trees".

That's it for the "mini-tour". If you want to see how the patio looked a year ago, when I started the blog, use this link to see Jerry's Patio: September 2025

Red Bird Azalea (Rhododendron) "Red Bird" - UPDATE

 latest entry to Photo/History page for Red Bird Azalea; to see complete history of this plant, click on link or use the menu on the r-h side of every page

Aug 11, 2026

It's been an un-eventful summer for the Azalea..in fact, there has been nothing to talk about until I discovered some discolored leaves w/ brown/blue-black splotches..that discovery led me to taking a closer look & I discovered some whitish powder-like substance  on the underside of some of the discolored leaves. 

A quick Google search suggested that the brown spots were a fungal infection, possibly caused by the Azalea Lace bug. While the solution for eliminating these insects is pretty easy (spray off with water), the literature calls for the use of potassium bicarbonate to fend-off & heal damage that may have occurred.

Reading further, I discovered that although the Azalea can be considered an "under-story" tree, it is susceptible to fungal diseases if the location of the plant is exclusively in shadow, with little air circulation &, the nemesis of all container plants, overwatering.

Yesterday, I pruned every leaf with discoloration & buds that were encroaching on neighbors in such a way as to block the sun & have re-located him to get some direct sun & increased airflow. Going forward, my strategy will be close observation & finding a spot for him that suits this plants requirements.

Yes, azalea's are finicky & can be difficult to live with, but the rewards are great if you can persuade them to "go with the program'.

Goodbye Japanese Maple 1.0 - Welcome Japanese Maple 2.0

 this is exerpted from the last entry for Japanese Maple (Acer Palmatum) 'Monrovia 1.0 & the first entry for Japanese Maple (Acer Palmatum) 'Monrovia' 2.0

Throughout May-June, the Acer continued the up-down cycle of leafing-out & then leaf-loss, showing signs of recovery & then regressing. Pruning back seemed to stimulate new growth, but then the damaged roots were just not capable of sustaining the new growth. One side of the "V" seemed dominant, the taller branch & so I reduced the tree to a single trunk, eliminating the competition..it didn't help..

By July, it became obvious to me that he had been exhibiting this cycle over & over during the last year & that it would probably end with the tree slowly withering away, or staging periodic recoveries that failed. The situation called for drastic means & in the case of a deciduous tree, there is no more drastic remedy than to "chop" it. 

A "chop" is a measure of last resort, but is not the same as 'chopping it down'..yes, we're killing the old, diseased or damaged above-ground structure, but giving the roots a chance to recover & because of the miracle of plant regeneration, possibly, grow an entirely new tree.

Aug 1, 2026 

This specimen was saw-cut prox 6" above ground-level; the cut was treated with rooting powder, which helps protect the tree until it heals over. However, I did not expect the tree would survive. Imagine my surprise, a couple of days ago, when I discovered this: 

Whether this"last resort" will be successful, we'll have to wait a couple of years to judge, but for now, the tree survives, in a new incarnation, with our best wishes.

Aug 5, 2026

I am surprised at the speed of re-population & the appearance of foliage..the 'old' plant never generated leaves like these, this quickly.

Aug 7, 2026

The new foliage will soon hide the legacy trunk & at this rate, I think I'm going to have to start thinking about thinning it out. One of the problems with the previous incarnation was that it would initially produce foliage, but could not sustain it; my theory is that the damaged roots could not deliver enough nutrition to feed the foliage.

One of the justifications for "the chop" was to reduce height & span that the root system had to service. All we can do now is to continue to monitor the plant.