This will be kind of a "Rescue" thread where you can post plants that you bought, or were given or found that were in bad shape. Tell us what you did to bring them back to life, please. I bought an Iris last fall, early fall, that was in a 6" pot. All the leaves save two were brown, drooped down the side of the pot and the two green ones left had brown tips. It was origionally $6.98 but reduced by 70%. so, $2 and change with tax First I removed all the dead, then cut the brown tips off and lastly, watered it with dilute fish emulsion. Once it started to grow back new leaves I removed some of the old dead soil while leaving the soil around the roots untouched, and repotted it with new compost back into the original pot after washing and sterilizing that pot. I kept it outside through fall and winter in a protected area under my bamboo because I don't have a cold frame nor a greenhouse. I planted it out in the garden this spring and, voila' !! Isn't she gorgeous !! I'm just so pleased !! I
Somebody threw a cut away top of a Dumb Cane on the street. I was walking, so happened to see it, (it was right in my path so couldn't miss it). Therefore I brought it home and planted it. That plant grew really big eventually, and stayed with me for 6 years I think.
They are really pretty and easy to grow houseplants. Lookit that !! You saved it and got a free plant !!
We bought this rhodo about 20 years ago when it was in a 10" pot. It was reduced to clear as every bud had frost damage. It would be half-way across the lawn by now if I didn't prune it so that the blooms are only at the top, above the other rhodos.
Nice job Riley !!.And Rhodos are not the easiest to baby back to health either !! Looks extremely healthy !!
I donated 3 Mango tree saplings to a park in the city. Below is the entire story. https://www.gardenstew.com/threads/mango-trees-from-seed.42999/ And recently I got this pineapple from the plant nursery. It wasn't doing very good, but the own said that I could have it for free. Because it's a red pineapple, which is rare and exotic, but nobody wants it, (as people are often ignorant, they assume that something it wrong with it, and the nursery guy it trying to sell them something defective). So he was regretting that he got it, therefore I took it off his hands. And it's now doing great. This Devil's Ivy too was discarded by someone. As I found cuttings when I went to the dumpster to toss away my trash. It was laying on the pavement, so I brought it home and planted it. Today it's become huge! Finally I have this Drooping Ashoka tree sapling. It spontaneously sprouted out from nowhere in the flower bed, (seed probably fell from a bird). Which obviously was no place for it. But where other people would have pulled it out and thrown away, I planted in an empty area where it'll someday become a huge tree.
Oh wow!! @S-H Red pineapple is something I've never seen either nor the Drooping Ashoka tree. Please post pictures of them when they get bigger and is the pink pineapple pink inside rather than yellow ?
I don't know of many plants I "rescued" but there is a long list of the ones I received heathy and ended up in "bad shape".
Well this is the first time I am growing any type of pineapple. So I'm not exactly sure how red or pink it'll be. But there are videos on YouTube which show what it would become like. From what I've gathered is that it's red on the outside and pink on the inside. However I'll know for sure when mine will mature. And in this thread, (link below), you can see what a Drooping Ashoka tree looks like - Which my mentality unstable neighbor is afraid of... https://www.gardenstew.com/threads/dendrophobia-fear-of-trees.42979
I can sympathize with what you are going through with your neighbor's fear of trees. I have a nutty neighbor too !! Her name actually is Karen !! She put cardboard and bricks down on her side of the fence line where my thornless blackberries are growing to keep them out of her yard !! Imagine ? Most would be in happy anticipation, waiting for them to pop up in their yard. She also, after the hurricane we had in 2023, insisted that I must remove the 40' tall piece of my Pecan tree and clean her yard of all the leaves and sticks which blew from my trees into her yard. I told her: "That is called "An act of God". You have to clean up what's on your side of the fence." She said: " Well, we'll see about that !! " I replied: " Yes, you will, but you're going to need a chainsaw !! She has bipolar disorder and has abnormally and highly emotional outbursts from time to time.
You said her name is actually Karen!?! Such people really need to be put on medication ASAP! Otherwise they continue to get worse and worse with time... Anyway, back to the topic of plants we got at a discount, as well as those which we rescued - Here is an Aloe Vera which I rescued from a home that was getting demolished. The crew obviously didn't care much about the yard. As soon the mechanical excavator would have arrived to dig the new foundation. That yard was already dead, but there was this Aloe Vera plant that was still alive, (but in a bad shape). So I asked the contractor if I could have it? He said sure, take it now. And so I brought it home with me - That plant gave a baby, which put in another pot. But now just look at them, each with more baby Aloe Veras of their own. So in a few days I'll have to give them all their own seperate pots.
I just came back from the garden center with this Wallflower for half price !! It had tons of dead leaves on the bottom half of it which I removed in the parking lot while waiting for the guys to load my car with 22 bags of mulch. It's soaking wet !! I put it out in the sun for now to help dry it out. Thank goodness that the folks at the garden center are ignorant about plants.!! The.nursery that delivers these even codes them with numbers which tells you what growing conditions they like. #1, as this one is labelled, is for plants needing full sun, well draining soil and lower water needs. If they did know what they were doing, there would be no clearance rack and no bargains !!
