Gardener's Grove: Lucky bamboo

PLANTAE KINGDOM-Our garden beds have been tucked in with dry leaves to overwinter in a frosty slumber. Next season's plantings are but a dream.

In the interim, let us look around the indoor landscape and learn about one of the most commonly found houseplants: the lucky bamboo or Dracaena sanderiana.

Its stalks rise like an art deco skyscraper, bright green and vertically inclined. At the top, a lucky bamboo is leafy and can be coiled.

Dracaena sanderiana is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae. It is named after the German–English gardener Henry Frederick Conrad Sander (1847–1920). Though the plant is commonly marketed as "lucky bamboo," it is not bamboo at all. The stem is fleshy, which distinguishes it from bamboo.

Common names include Sander's dracaena, ribbon dracaena, lucky bamboo, curly bamboo, Chinese water bamboo, Goddess of Mercy's plant, Belgian evergreen, and ribbon plant. Although the word bamboo occurs in several of this plant's common names, D. sanderiana is of an entirely different taxonomic order from true bamboos-though it is worth noting that this plant and true bamboos both fall under the monocot clade. So, they're more like cousins than siblings. Despite several of its common names that suggest it originates in China or Belgium, it is a native African species. Dracaena sanderiana is often confused with Dracaena braunii, a plant from coastal West Africa with flowers five times shorter than those of D. sanderiana.

Where does the luck come in? Some say when presented as a gift, the bamboo is imbued with luck, and the number of stalks determines the type of blessing being bestowed. Two stalks are sent as an expression of love and are said to double your luck. Three stalks represent happiness, wealth, and longevity. Five stalks positively impact one's wealth. Six stalks represent good luck and wealth.

Lucky bamboo is a great way to practice tree shaping, which is an art form that uses living plants to create structures and forms. As they grow, stalks can be twisted and woven into intricate patterns and coils.

Dracaena sanderiana has a lifespan of one to five years at a max height of 39 inches.

If planted in the ground, it loses its bamboo-like look and fills in with a leaf. It prefers bright, well-ventilated areas, but scattered light or semi-shade. Lucky bamboo is a perennial, so cuttings can be made year-round.

Unlike Dracaena sanderiana, true bamboo is not always a lucky plant, as it can be dangerous. As it grows, bamboo sends out shoots five to six feet laterally and then straight up. The shoots grow at an angle like spears and are no fun for a barefoot to happen upon.

Hence the lucky bamboo is a more popular plant for indoors and outdoors.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracaena_sanderiana, thespruce.com