Its foliage is particularly elegant and palm-like — though a dracaena is not a palm — and variegated kinds such as ‘Song of India’ keep bold stripes in bright, indirect light. Indoors it grows one to two metres tall and can live a long time, provided the room is very well lit; dark corners defeat it.
| Name | Dracaena, dragon tree |
|---|---|
| Family | Agavaceae |
| Type | indoor plant |
| Height | 3 to 6 ½ feet (1 to 2 meters) |
| Exposure | very well-lit, or even full sun |
| Soil | soil mix |
| Foliage | evergreen |
These are the answers to the many questions that can arise when one has the luck of owning a magnificent dragon tree.
→ Also: all about Dracaena and its problems
There are many cultivars with different foliage but all are cared after in similar fashion.
Dracaena requires good soil mix that can be amended with ⅓ compost, if you’ve got any.
In order to enhance drainage, pour clay pebbles or small stones into the pot to form a layer at the bottom.
This will help ensure that roots won’t wallow in water, which could be fatal to it.
Just as is practiced for plants in pots, feel free to place a bed of gravel, small stones or clay pebbles to drain the water better.
Atop this layer, you’ll be using a blend of soil mix, garden soil and sand.
Generally speaking, dracaena is intolerant to the cold and will only grow outside wherever the climate is quite warm with a temperature always higher than 63 to 65°F (17 to 18°C).
The most hardy variety, Dracena draco, can withstand temperatures as low as 34 or 35°F (1 to 2°C).
Under our climates, Dracaena adapts well to living indoors in our apartments and homes.
It grows best when surrounding temperatures hold at around 70 to 72°F (20 to 22°C) and requires very good light, and even direct sunlight.
Choose for it a place near a South or West-facing window so that it would bathe in a good deal of both indirect light and sunlight.
If you live in a house that is quite dark, avoid purchasing dracaena because it won’t cope well with the lack of luminosity.
Keep the pot away from draughty doorways and from the hot, dry air rising off a radiator, as both dry the foliage and invite red spider mites.
Turn the pot a quarter turn every week or two so the stems grow upright instead of leaning towards the glass.
Dracaena leaves are toxic to cats and dogs if chewed, so set the pot out of their reach.
A dracaena drinks far more in its growing months than in the cold, dull ones, and the fertiliser follows the same rhythm. Use this table to set your watering can down at the right time of year.
| Season | Watering | Feeding | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early spring to late summer | Every 4 or 5 days, letting the surface of the soil mix dry out first | Liquid fertiliser about every two weeks, on soil moistened beforehand | Roots must never wallow in water |
| Early autumn | Begin cutting back as the plant’s needs decrease | Stop feeding | Keeping the summer rhythm brings yellow leaves and root rot |
| Mid-autumn to early spring | Once or twice a month, only when the soil is dry down to the first inch | None at all | A plant standing in full sun will want more |
| All year round | Mist the leaves, preferably with soft water | — | Dry air encourages red spider mites |
Whatever the season, the same rule applies: let the surface dry before watering again, so the roots are never suffocated.
All year long, mist water on the leaves, preferably soft water.
This is usually the time of the year when dracaena grows most.
Water regularly while letting the soil mix dry in the surface before watering again.
Watering must be regular but limited, in order to not suffocate the plant’s roots.
You might say that watering every 4 or 5 days is largely sufficient.
More or less every two weeks, you can offer it some liquid fertilizer, taking great care to moisten the soil mix beforehand.
Start reducing the watering because the plant water needs begin to decrease.
Only when the soil is dry down to the first inch or so (a couple centimeters), water to moisten the entire soil mix clump again.
Again, one might contend that watering one or 2 times a month should suffice.
But this also depends on where your dracaena is placed: if it is in full sun, its needs will surely be higher.
This is undoubtedly due to lack of light or excess water.
This is what happens when the dracaena is too cold.
If the plant continues to produce new leaves, this is part of your dracaena’s natural cycle. Trees, even evergreen trees, lose their leaves to renew them.
This is surely due to an onslaught of scale insects.
There are quite a few amazing types of Dracaena! Their look is sometimes stick-drawing-like spindly and sometimes they’re outright massive giants. Here are the main varieties, two of which are familiar houseplants that also each have sub-varieties.
If ever you can get your hands on a Dracaena variety you find appealing, check with the owner and ask whether it’s ok to cut a stem off. They’re very easy to propagate!
Variegated dracaenas such as ‘Tricolor’ or ‘Song of India’ keep their colouring best in bright, indirect light; in dim rooms the stripes gradually fade, while unfiltered direct sun can scorch the leaves.
Dracaena draco grows slowly and eventually develops a stout trunk topped by an umbrella-shaped crown, so plan for floor space rather than a shelf when choosing where to keep it.
Although some varieties look very similar to palm trees, dracaena isn’t a palm tree.
But the similarity is confusing and the care it needs is often very close to that of a palm tree.
All in one aesthetic, resilient and very easy to grow, this is one of the most appreciated and often-purchased indoor plants.
Its foliage is particularly elegant and unique, and its shape and bearing brings a touch of exotic life to a living room, dining area, or any other room of the house that is well-lit.
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Image credits: the joy of plants
