Love it!

That nursery seems to produce a lot of plants, when young and smaller, look like your plant. When they are assorted, young and small, it is almost impossible to tell. I bought one thinking it is China doll and it turns out to be an unrelated vine: the grape ivy. Geese.

Hmmmphh.,...well that's unfortunate. I do believe my is truly a China Doll. This one is labeled hopefully correctly!!!!

Definitely a China Doll. :)

Grace, I read your post on your China Doll on here yesterday. How's it doing now??? I cant wait for mine to thrive like yours!!!!

Rhizo, if its finicky then I'm in for it!!! Im finicky myself so I usually don't get along with finicky plants. Oh well she's so pretty she well worth a try!!!

Jamila, I chopped it down last fall and she's grown back double her size but still lanky. I just looked at her yesterday thinking something's gotta be done--but for now, I'm still moving plants around trying to find some decent light.

She doesn't have any issue growing, but she does tend to grow ugly and messy-looking. I feel like if I find the right light, I could fix this but I'm afraid short of putting her outside, I won't find it.

I have a real issue moving plants back and forth and it's not physical; I just really don't like bringing outside spiders in or whatever other bugs LOL. It's no secret on this board that I have an irrational dislike for bugs. :)

She just wants to grow all kind of ways doesn't she? Still a beautiful plant.

My husband always ask me why don't I put my plants outside. I'm like you I don't wanna battle the bugs!!!

The few plants I do have outside will stay there!!!!

What exposure is she in right now?

That's technically a southern exposure but that front porch has a huge overhang and second, I can't keep that shutter open because my dog flies out through the screen at the sign of any passerby without there there like bars lol.

Her usual spot has been in this room by the side patio door so she gets dual lighting but still, I feel like it's not enough.

The only option remaining is to move haha.

That's too funny about your dog LOL.

Maybe get a lamp and give it artificial light as well?

Grace that's a very pretty plant. I had a china doll, about 27 years ago, and it stayed in a mound while I had it. I loved the plant but had to move and couldn't take it with me, so I never got to see it that size. Story of my life! Although, many friends I've made have benefited from my household moves, lol.

But now that I see the pretty green of both your plants, I want to go find one!! The color of the leaves in both photos remind me of maidenhair fern, another one of my favorites.

I found mine at Walmart Sara!

Sara, definitely get one! They grow so fast, too. Mine was in a little 3" post about 2 years ago? And it's been cut down twice just because of the crazy woman look.

Don't even get me started on Maidenhair Ferns. Might be one of my favorites--but she's up there w/ gardenias in terms of plants that freak out if I even look in its direction. I think mine died over winter outside but who knows....if I just leave it there and not touch it, watch--she'll come back so long as I don't approach the vicinity.

Jamila, she sure IS pretty!! Gorgeous, Grace!!

This is one plant that grew too fast for me. One of the few I've killed from getting too dry. I couldn't repot it fast enough to keep the pot NOT full of roots. So thirsty, flabbergasting for this serial overwater-er always in recovery.

Then I got one for my Mom because she had admired mine. She'd had it maybe 3-4 months when I killed hers too. It looked thirsty so I grabbed a nearby watering can & before Mom realized what I was doing, I'd doused it... with what she said was her weed killer can. Oops! FWIW, RU does kill stray China doll trees.

Shes sulking as we speak because she's thirtsty. I have her soaking in a bowl because she's root bound in hard peat. I can't wait to repot her.

It's a monstera in disguise....lol

I was just reading up and found that China Dolls like to be root bound and they don't like change, similar to a ficus (drops leaves with change). They can grow to 8' tall and 3' wide.

She has roots hanging out the bottom of her pot and the soil is hard so I don't think she's very happy!

Unless it's a dwarf version, China doll can get much taller than 8 feet.

Let's get rid of the silly old wives' tale about any plant liking to be root bound.

No plant likes to be rootbound. What is necessary for plants to stay
alive is for their roots to not rot, which can happen so easily in a pot
with dense soils, like ground dirt, or bagged mixes of predominantly
tiny particles of peat, (or to simply shrivel from simply never getting
any water.) Having very little soil around the roots would make the soil
dry more quickly, and for even the most dedicated plant-overwaterers to
not rot the roots of their plants. This is not ideal, since most
non-cactus plants are stressed by dry conditions, it's just a way of
coping with soil that has little air in it when moist. A more porous,
chunky soil (like cactus/palm, if one is buying bagged,) can have more
air in it even when it is moist because there is space between the
particles. Roots need oxygen and moisture at the same time to function.
When there are tiny particles of any kind in a pot, such as peat, sand,
silt, clay, they filter into all of the tiny spaces in a pot,
eliminating the air. "Overwatering" is the label and manifestation when
roots have suffocated and/or rotted, combo of both. Over time, organic
bits decompose into smaller bits, so even the "best" soil, if it has
organic components, will need to be replaced when this happens. The
speed at which this happens depends on many variables, but on average,
about 1-3 years.

Mine kept getting root bound so fast, I couldn't keep it moist enough. This is the fastest growing woody plant I've ever had.

I agree with you Tiffany. Once plants get to the root bound stage they start having issues. Like not taking up water. No bueno!!!

The misconception that plants like to be rootbound comes from their growth cycle. When you pot up or repot the plant has more room to spread its feet, which it does at the expense of top growth. When the plant starts filling in its pot and there is no room for any more roots it will start growing up top. People think that when you repot you are stressing the plant and it is sulking, but there is a lot going on that you are not seeing.

There are some plants that will not flower if they are not root bound though as mentioned above, they are quite content to grow roots until they can't anymore.

Those are common theories but they don't make sense to me and I've not observed any plants not growing new foliage or not blooming until a pot is full of roots. Roots do not reach a certain size and stop growing (unless they run out of room, not a good thing.) The general size of the root mass may reach a potential limit but the roots are not stagnant. Older roots are constantly dying off, new ones are forming. This takes space and soil with moisture and oxygen present at the same time in order for roots to be able to function and obtain/deliver moisture to the foliage.

Following the theory, plants in the ground in a natural setting would
never bloom because their roots would never stop trying to fill a pot
that doesn't exist. There would be published charts of which size pot
makes particular plants bloom.

Filling a pot with roots can often coincide coincidentally with reaching a mature enough state to be able to bloom. Giving the credit to an unnatural, unhealthy constricted condition instead of having become sexually mature seems completely illogical to me.

I guess it depends on your definition of root bound. If I see that as a recommendation, I think of it as a plant's roots being more snug in the pot, but it still has enough soil to draw nutrients. Similar to a hoya's preference.

But when it gets to the point where there are more roots than soil, and it needs water more than the what seems logical, that is obviously not good for the plant. Or if the roots are hanging out the bottom, etc, obviously that is not good either. That is when one should use common sense.

I believe that reasons are behind the old wives' tales. For mini roses, I have much better surviving rate by keeping them indoors over winter in small pots.