A little red/pink for your Valentine's Day:
Cordyline terminalis, also known as Hawaiian Ti Plant or Hawaiian Good Luck plant, is a beautiful tropical plant with dark red to bright pink leaves. The plant's tropical nature and red leaves are what attracted me to it when I saw it at the nursery last year.
{Ti plant september 2011}
Not long after we brought the Ti plant home last summer it exploded in spider mites (which has been an unfortunate trend with this particular nursery. I want to support small, local businesses, but every.single.plant I have bought there seems to be infested). After all its leaves withered away, it looked like a couple of dead sticks, but little by little it started to heal.
{Ti plant February 2012}
Here's my Ti plant now. We brought it inside last fall and it seems to be recovering. There is new leaf growth and although some of the leaves are shriveled, it looks much better and is spider mite free (knock wood).
I would love to see the dark red color return to the leaves. These plants need indirect bright light, and I have it in a room where it gets good morning light. I hope it lives up to its name and brings itself some good luck. Maybe by next Valentine's Day I'll have a little red or pink in the house.
Happy Valentine's Day!
