Weekend Project - Repotting Containers

In addition to the gardens outside, I also have a bunch of indoor plants, many left from when I lived in apartments. This one is a ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) that I got from a neighbor many years ago. And by "got", I mean "intercepted as he tried to throw it away (!)".

Apparently it was his ex-girlfriend's. It came with the pot (plus some plants - that I'm sure will show up later) and the same pot in a larger size, which I planted with two Dracaena marginata:



Over the last few years, all these plants have done well, although lately, the ZZ plant has not been happy. So I decided to switch pots - moving the larger ZZ plant into the larger plot, and the smaller d. marginata to the smaller pot. When I unpotted the d. marginata, I got the first hint this was going to be harder than I thought. Then I (finally) got the ZZ plant out of its container... Whoa. Pictures below:


d marginata roots - the tap root was longer than the plants!

ZZ Plant Rhizome / Roots. Rootbound much?

After separating the two d. marginata plants, and contemplating separating the ZZ plant (yeah right!) I found another pot - the ZZ plant got the big square red container, and each d. marginata got its own container. Here's everyone all happy after:



None of these are hardy outdoors here, of course, although they should be able to be outside for the summer. Right now, ZZ is back indoors (the wind was too hard on his stalks - two even broke off!) but the others are still outdoors. I think the extra sun they get on the part-shade patio should help them.

Note to future - next time, don't wait for 5 years before repotting! Now to see whether they all survive this adventure....