About 4 years ago, I decided to try again and bought a small one about maybe 18 inches tall. It had lots of beautiful leaves and even a bunch of leaf buds on it. I got it home and sure enough, within a week, the leaves were dropping like flies.
I mentioned it to my niece and she told me to start putting it outside in the spring after the last frost, and leaving it out there till just before the first frost in the fall. I did that and now that same plant is almost 5 feet tall and full and beautiful!
It was amazing! I didn't do anything else different to it. For that matter I even forget to water it out there a lot of times! But it is so pretty now, and stays pretty through the winter when I bring it in.
Source: Thank you, Robin!
By Cricket from Parkton, NC
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Not sure, but it looks to me like a schefflera arbicola (umbrella plant).
Looks like a magnolia to me.
It IS a rubber tree plant according to my knowledge... I had a few of them and that is what i bought from the nursery.
If it has lots of branches coming out all over with three or four leaves on each branch, like it looks in the pic (hard to tell), it looks like an umbrella plant. The person above me is correct. I asked the same question to my fl plant group earlier this week. lol.
It looks like a laurel bush, which grow like crazy in my garden. Or it could be a rubber plant.
You will have to tell your MIL that yes, it is a rubber tree. Google "rubber tree photos" to check it out.
It looks like a very young rubber tree. It needs some support stakes and some fertilizer.
Thank you all so much. Yes, I do believe it is a rubber plant. My mother had them when I was younger. I don't have much of a green thumb, but I am trying.
That is a rubber plant. I found them very sensitive to grow after I lost a couple of them I finally gave up. Don't water very much!
The photo is of a Rubber Plant - Ficus elastica
It could also be a orange tree. When I was very small, I planted seeds from an orange that I was eating in one of my mother's house plants, and one of the trees lived for almost 20 years (until my Dad accidently left it outside and it got frostbiten). It looked exactly like this. It never flowered. Upon a bit of research, we were told that there had to be both a male and a female tree in order for them to produce fruit.
Looks like an umbrella tree to me as well. My mom got one as a present over a decade ago, and the stupid thing won't die. She kept this plant in a windowless office for 3 years on a book shelf, no it's over 7 feet tall. She never fertilizes it, often forgets to water it, and it's attacked by cats constantly.
You'll see that rubber plant leaves turn up a bit, while umbrella trees fan out and droop slightly. The umbrella tree's trunk will get more tree like, having bark and being very light tan.
It's definitely a rubber tree plant. And one suggestion on it's care. Once the last frost is over put it outside for the summer. Then bring it back in before the first frost of the season.
When can I cut back a rubber tree plant?
By Peggy from Brighton, IL
