{"id":99044,"date":"2021-06-18T13:39:10","date_gmt":"2021-06-18T17:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=99044"},"modified":"2021-06-18T13:39:10","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T17:39:10","slug":"dragon-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=99044","title":{"rendered":"dragon trees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2m63My9\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/51252953852_0d23517bee_c.jpg\" alt=\"P1012245\" width=\"534\" height=\"800\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>a dragon tree, Dracaena draco, takes decades to reach even this size &#8212; Venice, Calif <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A few years ago I had the opportunity to help with a small front garden, that was designed to receive only occasional hand watering.  I planted agaves and other succulents, dymondia, some bromeliads, three Hesperaloe &#8216;Brakelights,&#8217; (all of which withered away &#8212; why not choose life, hesperaloe!?) and a dragon tree, Dracaena draco, the first and only time I&#8217;ve planted this succulent tree.  Although slow growing, I knew its potential size might be a problem &#8212; I seem to have a fatal attraction to Canary Islanders!  Right now the dragon slumbers in the form of an innocuous, leafy rosette, roughly about 4X3&#8242;.  But when it flowers, which is still a long way off, <em>but when it does<\/em>, its stem will begin to branch and develop that mesmerizingly dense, umbrella-like canopy, with branches radiating outward like arterioles, that can rise over 20 feet.  Now, with the house changing hands soon, I&#8217;m debating whether to dig it up or leave the botanical time bomb in place.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2m6c2B1\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/51254562010_86b7c5c309_c.jpg\" alt=\"kordan-10\" width=\"640\" height=\"800\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Dracaena cinnabari image by Daniel Kordan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>My smoldering moral dilemma involving a single dragon tree was recently inflamed by some amazing images by photographer <a href=\"http:\/\/danielkordan.com\/\">Daniel Kordan<\/a>.  Dracaena draco is not the only dragon tree named for its red sap, which Greek myth says originates in the dragon blood spilled when Hercules vanquished Ladon in the Garden of the Hesperides.  The subject of Kordan&#8217;s photos is Dracaena cinnabari, the Socotra dragon tree from Yemen, that also spills red sap when cut, a resin used not only medicinally but also  in many other applications such as for dyes and varnish.  The storied dragon trees have sparked imaginations for millenia, Greek, Roman, and Arab.  And now I&#8217;m in a quandary over what to do with the baby one I planted in a small city garden in Los Angeles, facing a busy sidewalk, where  its presence goes mostly unnoticed&#8230;.for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2m66wnR\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/51253488131_eb58351e93_z.jpg\" alt=\"kordan-3-960x640@2x\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Dracaena cinnabari image by Daniel Kordan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I might have to go shopping for a large pot this weekend for a baby dragon tree &#8212; and happy Father&#8217;s Day to all our dads!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few years ago I had the opportunity to help with a small front garden, that was designed to receive only occasional hand watering. I planted agaves and other succulents, dymondia, some bromeliads, three Hesperaloe &#8216;Brakelights,&#8217; (all of which withered &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=99044\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[599,36],"tags":[3211],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNJ2E-pLu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99044"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99044"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99097,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99044\/revisions\/99097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}