Asparagus densiflorus 'sprengeri' (Sprengeri Fern)

This plant is not a fern and it has no leaves.  Fascinating !   Those bright green soft needle-like foliage are actually stems  and is referred to as cladodes ..  interesting.  Although  the articles I read mentioned that this plant does flowers, I don't recall ever seeing any flowers. This means I really must observe this plant more often to catch the flowers.  I actually have this plant for almost 4 years now.  From a small  pot that my mother gave me,  I have increased its population  as I like this plant very much.  

This plant  is  always green and  real easy to care for.  Recently  I transferred one  "mould " of these plants  (the plants tend to grow as a mould in the container - very compact, see the pictures )  to the ground. I am attempting to see if  it makes suitable ground cover.

There was this one time when  one container of this plant  turned brown on me . I am not sure what happened, I surmised it was either due to lack of water or the plant has grown 'old',  I had placed it  on top of the shoe cupboard ,  away from the other plants, and sometimes I forget to water it.  Now I always keep the soil moist and leave it where there is  some sunlight.  Under too much sunlight, the green turns really light and not so nice looking.  I let the soil dry out  once a while  to ensure the roots are kept healthy   I noticed that  this plant does not like too much watering. 

Ah yes, when I noticed the plant turning  brown and unhealthy looking,  I pulled out the whole mould of plants out of the pot, and cut off those brown and dried looking stems. Then I replanted  the healthy green ones back to a clean container with fresh soil.  The plant grew well and  eventually  the pot  became 'overcrowded' again.  When this happened,  I pulled it out and then divided it into into clumps to be planted in two different pots.  So  this was how I  multiplied  them . Luckily this plant doesn't grow all that fast !

 Actually these plants look good in hanging pots and it is better to plant them in shallow pots. Their roots do not go deep.

Schefflera arboricola (Umbrella Plant)

When we stayed in Penang, there was this Umbrella Tree growing  beside the staircase going up to our flat. It was a big tree and it  bore flowers too. The flowers were nothing spectacular, but it somehow attracted many birds.. perhaps for the seeds.  My children used to love watching these birds from the balcony. The plant that I have now was actually  grown from a cutting from a plant at my mother's house.   I was not too sure if  I would be successful in propagating this plant  since the  plant was  in really bad shape.  The plant had been neglected sitting in a corner,  seems like everyone had forgotten about it.  It was almost all dried up,  hardly any leaves,  and the thin aerial roots running all over trying to look for water perhaps....(lol).  The soil was hardened and the plant had not been watered in ages.  I pruned the plant and its roots and replanted  using  fresh soil, and  luckily  being a tough plant, it  survived !  From the discards  I chose the ones that I  felt would  most likely able  to grow. 

I was relieved and amazed to see at least one cutting  take root and grow.  It took a while  to adjust  and in fact at one point I thought it  wasn't going to make it.  Now it is growing very  well.  It is now  more than a year old  and  see how well and healthy this plant is !   Notice how perfect and lovely the leaves formation is --- it is obvious  why they called it the Dwarf Umbrella Plant.  I like this plant a lot as it is forever green.  I have seen the variegated variety, and perhaps I might add that  to my collection one day.  Meantime I am really delighted with the one I have now. Perhaps it is high time I prune it to give it some shape, but I feel reluctant to do  so - seeing how well it is doing now.  

I placed this potted plant  exposed to the morning sun.  In the afternoon it has a bit of shade from the bigger plants beside it.  It takes to regular watering, but once a while it is okay  to let it dry out.  

ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia)

This is  one 'hot' plant at one time, but  there are people who still love them (me included).  It is a fascinating plant and so easy to care for. However one negative point, it is highly poisonous  (if ingested) and recently people started throwing it out. There were rumors going around that it released poisonous gas as well. I don't understand why people are so gullible. Put it this way, if you have been growing this plant (s) in your home or garden for years and nothing has happened, why react so negatively?  Before this, it was supposed to be a good  'feng shui' plant. At one time people were selling this plant for a very  good price. Grow this plant in a nice oriental pot and it looks pretty exotic. 

As for me the merits of this plant includes:-

1)  The thick fleshy leaves are so shinny and naturally green forever.  When the new leaves come out, they are curled up, slowly unfurled as they appear.It is a nice plant to look at.

2)   This plant is easy to propagate. Just stick a cutting or even a leaf  in some soil and  a baby plant appears. The baby plant has small  hardy bulb like root at its base. Very cute and unusual. 

3) Watering can be infrequent. In fact it can stand drought for a long time, and still do well. The base of the stem is swollen, indicating it is a succulent plant.  The ball like rhizome is like a potato tuber that stores water for its needs.

4) Not much fertilizer is needed to make the plant grow....it will grow at its own pace, very slowly.

5) Direct sunlight (when it is a real hot day) might burn the leaves, so  place the plant under indirect sunlight  is better. The plant also do well indoors. However, prolonged periods without sunlight might turn the leaves light green instead of the dark healthy glossy green. So a touch of  sunlight is good for the plant now and then. Just take the plant to sun it once a while. 

6) The plant is pest free - what a bonus! 

7) Any soil medium that allows good drainage  is good for the plant. 

8) This plant is also called the 'eternal' plant, it will only die from too much water.  If one notices yellow leaves on the plant, it normally means the root has start to rot from too much water. Just pull that particular stem out to avoid the spread of the rot.  Check first that the rot has not spread to other stems.  Keep the plant dry for a week or so. The plant recovers fast. New shoots will  come out  once the plant is healthy again.

This plant has so many merits there is no reason how anyone can fail to grow this plant successful.  One last note, this plant does flower but the flowers are not attractive at all. I am not sure why it bothers to flower since propagation is so easy through using the leaves or cutting.  I am not sure if there are seeds from the flowers. Will check this out next time my plant flowers.....lol!