Lucky Bamboo
Lucky bamboo is not bamboo at all — though it bears an uncanny resemblance. Rather it's a plant called Dracaena sanderiana.
As for whether it's lucky, that pretty much depends on you. Or does it?
Growers and retailers are certainly doing what they can to stack the cards in your favor, using the principles of feng shui (the ancient art of harmonizing living spaces) to train plant stalks into the shape of hearts or coils, weaving stalks together to make decorative braids, and potting a “lucky” number of plant stalks together and wrapping the whole in a decorative and auspiciously colored ribbon.
A few websites have attributed the appeal of lucky bamboo to its ability to intertwine Eastern mysticism with Western New Age culture. Dracaena sanderiana (dra-SEE-na san-dur-ee-AH-nuh) is native to Cameroon in Africa, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is also known as Belgian evergreen and ribbon plant.
As for its more popular moniker, lucky bamboo, Mario Vega, nursery specialist at San Francisco's Conservatory of Flowers, says the plant's stalks resemble bamboo, and the leaves are similar in shape.
But D. sanderiana grows more slowly, more neatly and more compactly than bamboo, he said, which makes it good for indoor use. Vega views the plant's “lucky” element in a different light.
“The lucky aspect, that's a curious one,” he said. “Bringing any plant into your home or any work with plants can give a positive effect on your psyche and therefore have positive energy — potentially improving your luck, so to speak.”
Given what's done to lucky bamboo plants in the name of good fortune — all the pruning, braiding, shaping, grouping — it's clear D. sanderiana is one tough number.
But it's not so lucky for pets and their owners, who should think twice about having the plant in their home: Plants in the Dracaena family are toxic to dogs and cats, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The plant can be grown in soil or water, in normal household temperatures (65 to 75 degrees). Give it sunlight but not too much, Vega says. Moderate to bright indirect light is preferred.
If you're growing the plant hydroponically, Vega says to make sure to flush out the water regularly to prevent algae growth.
If it is in soil, be sure the pot has good drainage, and water as you would any houseplant: Stick your finger in the soil and water when it's dry about 1 inch down. (Don't overwater.) Fertilize sparingly.
FlowerShopNetwork, an online marketing service for florists in Paragould, Ark., has blog posts about care and training of lucky bamboo.
One entry suggests using distilled water with the plant because it is “sensitive to the salts and chemicals in tap water.”
If tap water is your only choice, let the water sit overnight to allow the chlorine to evaporate, they advise.
When the plants get too tall, no problem, writes Barbara Pleasant in “The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual”: Cut off the cane at any height, and new leaf clusters will grow just below the cut.
It is easy to propagate new plants from the stem cuttings too. Online tutorials (we found several on YouTube) offer instructions on training the growing stem to curl around in a spiral, but remember, this can take a while because Dracaena is a slow-growing plant.
“It's basically bulletproof,” says Jason Lopez, living collection manager at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Fla. “It's one of the easiest plants you can pick.”
Lucky bamboo plants are often sold as multiple stalks. What the numbers mean may differ according to various sources.
Mandy Maxwell, writing on the website of the Flower Shop Network, notes that three stalks are the most popular — and represent happiness — while four stalks are “almost never given” because “four could draw negative energy, according to Chinese culture.”
Two stalks symbolize luck in love and marriage, and eight stalks represent luck in wealth.
