St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Plant

Sunday night, I was into one of my plant maintenance clients' offices. As I entered their lunchroom, I was greeted with a full, beautiful fragrance that was inescapable yet alluring.

Dracaena fragrans massangeana

 in flower

I fully expected to round the corner to find several hyacinths that someone may have brought in to hurry on Spring. About this time of year, people often bring in small pots of forced hyacinths, just for that purpose.
No hyacinths.
Instead it was one my Dracaena fragrans massangeana  that had flowered into full and odoriferous beauty. The flower clusters were on a single stem about 18" long. The plant had been in flower the week before; but by this week had advanced to this stage of magnificence. The room was large, approximately 45x36 feet with 18 feet ceilings, and the fragrance was everywhere. My experience has shown that by far most people enjoy this fragrance; but in offices of more than 100 people, you can expect 1 or 2 that have an issue with it.
After 2-3 weeks of flowering indoors, the blooms begin to fade, they drop a messy goo and they take a lot of energy from the plant. For all of these reasons, I will leave the bloom for 2-3 weeks and then remove it. Beautiful while it lasts.

Shamrock Plants (Oxalis)

St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Plant : You just knew that we had to have them and we do. This year we brought in full 6" pots in both the traditional green with white flowers and the burgundy (my favourite) with purple flowers. Oxalis is an easy to care for plant that can provide years of enjoyment with very little care.
The blooms and the leaves will close at night and reopen with the morning light. Keep them slightly damp and provide bright, indirect light. The pot is covered with a decorative shamrock motif green sleeve and sells for just $8.85.  Happy St. Patrick's Day.