Purple, that looks eye-catching! I have been meaning to add another Dracaena stem or two to my single "tree". Never got around to it but seeing this photo, I'm definitely going to do it. Two looks so much nicer than one. And like the crown sticking out! :-D You're shooting for a Dracaena bonsai there.

gardenfreak,i used miracle grow mix but going to change next year as i have to root prune them, i'll use some shultz premium and amend that with some other mixes to keep the soil from drying out to fast. The pots are probably around 25 gallons or so but not exactly sure, i might also try a different container as well although similar but more straight sided not sure i have to see the costs. At end of seson i usually let the soil dry some and the containers get much lighter to move with hand truck, my uncle used to grow 1 tree much bigger than mine that had a nice size trunk but it was a lot more work as him and his son would bury in yard every year they did this many many years(faamily tree) long story. So the way i do is actually easier for me instead of bury in yard because i would have to bury too many or wrap and cover to many our winters can be nasty. To me there nothing special growing in pots its kinda cheating as i just move them with hand truck the folks that grow them inground and wrap or bury many of them thats the real growers in my opinon and much more work they deserve the credit! it just works best this way for me. Thanks for looking and the forum is nice to see ones options as there are several different ways to choose from. Merry Christmas and Healthy New Year Martin

Rita - One full zone certianly does make a difference! Seems like we are almost exacly one month appart on bloom times, and probably 15 degrees different in temps. We really only get down to about 20 in the winter and up to 115 in the summer (whew), with 105 being a sustained temp for weeks at a time. ACK! VELVET EYES had done super well here. Strong grower, multiplier and bloomer. That said, the branching and budcount could use work. I went out just now to count (because there are 11 scapes still on the small clump - and I already pulled off at least 4 others) and I found the highest # of bud scars was 21 and the lowest was 9. Most of them had 14 buds. Not great, but sure are lots of scapes. Only top branched for me too... Debra - I was REALLY surprised when JENNY BUTTERFIELD bloomed so many times. I don't remember reading about anyone having rebloom on it... much less, double rebloom (if that's what it's called). CHINESE WATERCOLOR also surprised me - the first scapes were still blooming the last blooms when I started to see new baby scapes popping up. PALACE GARDEN BEAUTY - well, this plant is a wierd one. I have two clumps of it growing in the same bed - BUT, one clump rebloomed and the other did not. The one in full sun is the one that didn't rebloom! The other one is one of the plants being taken over by my knock-out roses. I have been keeping them trimmed off the daylilies, but poor PGB gets a lot of shade. I was surprised when the shaded one was the one that rebloomed. Maybe you need to trade its place with JENNY BUTTERFIELD! :o) I have not given up hope of more rebloom when things cool off here. Texas has wierd growing seasons - we get two. One in spring and one in fall. Once things cool off a bit, I usually see more scapes popping up.

anthony_toronto Historically deer are not a problem where I live, since in the 15 years in this house I have seen all of four or five and usually at a distance. In the past if we have seen them, they pass us by for the alfalfa and corn fields. But we had several dry years, range and forest fires, so they came down out of the hills when they normally don't. My garden was green and moist when little else was. The one hit on the highway was crossing between a cornfield and an alfalfa field. I would not hit one on purpose, nor wish anyone else to hit one. I didn't actually cheer, that comment was intended to be tongue in cheek (after all, it was already dead) and I was pretty sure someone would point out the hardship or damage done to the car or people by hitting the deer, so I added the part about the prayer. I offer up prayers for every accident I see, deer related or not. I am over half a century old and have driven thousands of miles in deer country every year and have never hit a deer on the highway. I did hit one in the past, in the middle of town where you really don't expect to see one, but I saw it and I was nearly stopped by the time we made contact. The silly thing more or less walked into my car, looked at me through the windshield, then trotted to the side of the road and jumped a six foot fence. The deer was possibly not even bruised and it did no damage to my car. As the Fish and Game guy on TV says, "If you decide not to hit a deer, you won't." karenrei I have had solar powered electric fences for livestock, but if you make them tall enough to possibly stop deer, there is a good chance they will get caught up in it when they try to jump it or run through it. So we don't build them that high. I don't expect to have a deer problem this year. We have had plenty of moisture and things are greener than they have been in the past. Add to that the fact that a couple of the farms north and southwest of us have added irrigation pivots and I am unlikely to have a problem with them. Plus one or more of our new neighbors (city folk moving to the "country" I believe) allow a number of dogs to run loose at night. They keep me awake with their barking and they chase and kill some of my (mostly wild, "set free" in the country) adopted cats that I have fed for years, but they may also act as deer deterrents. Bets