It's a diffenbachia, and yes, they root easily.

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Diffenbachia

Dieffenbachia is the name of your plant. Although it's not technically an elephant ear,it IS an aroid,which is to say that the two are related if not somewhat distantly.

Propping it up with string,sticks,whatever is not a bad idea seeing as they do tend to want to fall over past a certain point. I think that in their natural habitat,they grow to a certain height then fall over and re-root themselves allowing the new growth to get tall once more...and the process begins anew. Can't remember where I learned that though. Certainly open to correction from someone who knows better than I. :)

Very pretty plant! Diffenbachia are usually considered to be houseplants, while elephant ears are outside plants.

A thin sparse stem is usually the result of low light conditions, not unusual indoors. I've got some outdoors and have seen plenty of others that grow tall without falling over. They develop thicker stems and become self supporting in the brighter light.

There's a large group of plants referred to as Elephant Ears, but Dieffenbachias aren't one. It's usually species of Alocasia, Colocasia, Typhonodorum, Caladium, Cyrtosperma, Xanthosoma, and possibly a few more.

Absolutely beautiful plant! And excellent job keeping it looking so great for such a time!

Part of the added sturdiness of outdoor plants is necessity to develop resistance to wind. But the occasional gust can take things down, as said. Being able to keep going somehow, especially by making new roots, is a common survival technique among plants.

That particular gardeningknowhow article is fine, but I've seen so many riddled with errors, old wives' tales, and insufficiently labeled plants, wouldn't use it as a reference for anything, along with ehow.com, and about.com - and asking employees at a BBS, don't waste your time, or confirm independently. I've not found hormones necessary to propagate any house plants known to be able to be propagated via cuttings.

There's not a right/wrong regarding common names for plants, which can vary by region, generation. DH says all of our plants are called Steve. But I know their botanical names, for when such info is needed to specify a particular one, or search for info about it.

The 6 ft long fiberglass poles (with flags on top) people sometimes affix to their bikes or dune buggies are all the same diameter from one end to the other, and they exhibit a lot of deflection in that 6 ft of length. If you take a 6 INCH piece and try to bend it, you hardly notice any bending for your best effort. The same is true for your Diff. If you don't want it to flop over - shorten it, and it won't. Now is probably not a good time to cut it back, but you can put a plan in place that will see your plant fully rejuvenated, growing like a champ, and realizing much more of its genetic potential by the middle of next summer, if you're interested.

Al

I knew I'd seen info on it's growth habit somewhere before.

The link is to a discussion posted by Dellis(who posts here under the same name btw).

When I'd read that it was in their nature to fall over past a certain point,my feelings were less hurt when that sort of thing happened.

Here is a link that might be useful: International Aroid Society discussion topic

Asleep, that makes sense, the trunk of these plants never lignifies. Exposure to wind is probably a moot point then if it does that anyway outside in its' natural habitat.

Sounds like pruning or staking will be necessary at some point regardless of location.

Helpful analogy, Al.

ZIP, are you feeling better about your plant?

Yep, they're often floppy when tall. The stems will be nice and firm and it won't seem to make sense. That is a very nice looking plant, personally I'd let in grow for a few more feet before giving it the chop but it won't harm it to cut it whenever you're ready to do it. I find bamboo poles to be a more attractive option to tie plants to rather than dowels or boards. Two thicker poles (1/2" -3/4") are more than stiff enough to hold it up. HD's near me sell bamboo up to 1/2" and some of the real garden centers sell them bigger and you can also get short hook & loop (Velcro) type straps to bind it.

I wish I had pictures of the ones I saw in Costa Rica. I think we often think of these as partial sun or shade plant but they were growing in full sun and full sun there makes my mid-summer full sun seem like a mid-winter full sun. 115 degrees in April, You could almost feel the sunlight pushing you into the ground it was so intense.

Anyways, mine got to about 10-1/2 feet so I chopped the top couple of feet off late last winter and rooted it. Waited a couple of months for new growth to get nice and big on top and chopped it off again and now it's ready to lose another couple of feet. But, unlike yours, my Def only had leaves on the top 16 - 18 inches, the rest was bare stem. When you cut yours it will probably loose the bottom few leaves.

I should be able to get three more similar cut offs and it also has new growth from the base. I have the cuttings growing in a vase of water with hydro nutrients and when I finish I plan to transfer them to hydroton and grow them in semi-hydro all together.

Just had an idea.

If you were to fasten it to a moss stick,it would set roots all up it and that way it could run up as high as you wanted it to,depending on how big you made your moss stick.

Kind of a forced epiphytic growth habit experiment,like when you train a plant with a trailing habit up a wire,yaknow?

If the moss stick was literally ringed with sayyyyy six to eight foot high plants the effect would be spectacular.

I daydream. :)

Edited to say hey Danny!
That was your post in the link,right?

This post was edited by asleep_in_the_garden on Wed, Aug 27, 14 at 10:38

Hey Asleep, yeah that was my post.

Thought so! :)

Michael Pascall is first to respond on that thread...he posts here too,right? Is his handle "Aroideana"?

I think they are the same but really don't know for sure.

Ok thanks Danny,..quite a few years ago he sent me a cutting through the mail of a plant I'd been questing after for years and some time later it was lost in a move. Pretty sure it was him anyway...it's been a long time since then...fuzzy memory and all. At this rate I couldn't be certain that he had the mother plant anymore,but I've been meaning to look him up anyway. Hope springs eternal yaknow.

Again,thanks for your help! :)