There's a word for very large cuttings, truncheons. The last cutting I did of Dracaena marginata was over 3 feet long. I just cut it off and stuck it in a pot. That was about 3 months ago. It is rooted and growing new leaves. I haven't unpotted it to check the root system, but I'm sure the plant knows what to do, and that it has plenty of space to do it. I've repotted many various species of Dracaena plants that started as cuttings, and none of them had such compact, well-branched systems as shown in your pics, Rina. But, after being pruned, potted, and checked again a year later, they do more closely resemble the roots in your pics, more smaller roots that more evenly proliferate the pot. More like what a bonsai plant would have vs. a ground-grown specimen. When confining a plant to a pot, being as far toward the bonsai end of the spectrum is good, and a worthy goal. Those roots look great! I'm sure Dracaena is a good genus with which to learn and practice air layering, but I know it's not necessary. No doubt fun to watch, without the mystery of wondering "did my cutting root yet?" And fast results are very fun, gratifying. Once learned though, this technique can be applied to many other plants that are much more difficult to take root via cuttings. It also has the advantage of extremely high success rate. Though I don't think I've ever lost a cutting of Dracaena in particular, some very nice pieces of woody entities have been lost to failure over the years.

Could it be pokeweed, Phytolacca americana? To upload full sized images, first upload your photo to a hosting site (I use Photobucket), then copy the html code from there into the body of your message. That way, there's no size limit and a large photo can show up with minimal effort. Here is a link that might be useful: Pokeweed

I enjoyed the trip to Canada Blooms this year. I found the garden display much more to my taste. Basically that is I like things being more organic, less too modern. I got a few ideas from the trip. The market place was okay. I like to get my seeds from Florabunda and a few thompson seeds from Gardenscape. I missed Patrick Studio though. There was a time when the Market place was far more fuller. I would have rather wanted to see more vendors to see what's new in gardening. Or maybe, it's because I brought a young child with me and had to spend less time looking at the products. Whatever.. there were definitely less vendors around this year and I am speculating the rental costs has risen. Perhaps it's time the organizers begin to address this issue and start looking at another venue. Another thing that always irks me, why should I pay for that magazine that lists down the name of the vendors and the displays. Goodness. Shouldn't this come free? Last, I was wondering why can't the organizers hold an open air garden show right there in early summer - alla Chelsea. This can be done at Downsview - the site where the Pope visited. It's being developed into a park and so why not? --

Hi Ron. I agree 100%. The only problem is I don't really know how far I want to take the 'tropical' look. I really like the gardens in the Bay Area, and something similar would make me happy, obviously using mostly hardy plants that can be grown here. The other thing is.....I just put that fence in after my 7' solid ceder fence blew down this winter. I kind of like the open look, at least for now. The new fence also helps with cold air drainage in the winter, not to mention a couple of extra hours of sunlight and heat on the west side of my house in summer. Over time, I am sure I will have it well covered with climbers, but for now...............I think I will just let things be 'til I figure out what to do with my yard. The water side seems to be the biggest problem, because I don't want to block mine, or my nieghbors view. I have some ideas, but that will have to wait until the late summer. Take care. -Brian