Question
Unknown Plant
I have not been able to find an expert in the subject of identifying plants and I
was wondering if you would be able to help. I live in an apartment and I am
limited to a container garden. I loved the pictured plant but cannot find it
anywhere or what kind of plant it is. Any suggestions?
AnswerI believe this is a manipulated plant. By that I mean it does not naturally grow that shape. It was "pruned". It looks like a young Ficus tree. The lower limbs have been cut off and the top has been shaped into a ball. There are other plants that can be shaped like this. Dracaena, Coral Berry, Schefflera, Dieffenbachia, and many more. The difficult to find, Iron Strap plant, will form a round top of strap like leaves and a long bare stem naturally.
All of the plants on this list are easy to grow, and not too difficult to manipulate into the look you want. Because they are plants however, they grow, so the shaping will need to be done with each new leaf sprout. This is why this manipulation is not very popular. It is much easier to let the plant grow naturally.
