How To Grow A Brazilian Lucky Wood Plant Indoors

Even if you aren't superstitious, a Brazilian lucky wood plant (Dracaena fragrans) invites goodness into your home. Its name alone is enough to give you a thrill. If you're curious about implementing feng shui in your home, this plant that symbolizes resilience and good fortune is said to bring goodness, balance, and prosperity into your home. Possible superpowers aside, NASA has suggested that this maybe-magical tree could remove indoor pollutants from your home. 

The fragrans part of its scientific name hints at sweet-smelling flowers. They don't flower frequently, but when they do, the white to deep red blossoms put out an intoxicating fragrance at night. It's a low-maintenance houseplant, but it does take a bit of extra care to coax it into blooming. Bright, indirect light will do the trick, but if your space doesn't provide that, a Brazilian lucky wood plant will exist happily in darker surroundings.

If you're looking for the right low-maintenance houseplant for a beginner, a Brazilian lucky wood plant should be a top candidate. This member of the asparagus family and African-native has lots of cultivars and can slowly reach heights of 3 to 14 feet. Before falling in love with this plant, know that all parts of this plant are toxic to pets. It's smart to give it a miss if you share your home with fur babies.

There are many varieties to choose from when you're considering Brazilian lucky wood plant adoption, and most of them appear to have similar growing tendencies. With possible heights of over a story tall, scoping out the proper placement for a Brazilian lucky wood tree might be daunting. Yet, keeping it in a smallish pot can help maintain the plant at a manageable size. You can trim them to fit smaller spaces as well. For those of you without cathedral ceilings, try a stockier cultivar like 'Janet Craig' or 'Compacta,' which top out at a maximum of 6 feet.

Brazilian lucky wood is a member of plants that can grow in water indefinitely, but they also like well-draining potting soil. If you forget to water it from time to time, you won't do it major harm. Stake out a space in your home for your Brazilian lucky wood plant with bright to medium indirect light; direct sunlight can burn its leaves. Even though it can stand low light, if you want your plant to develop lush leaves and have the best chance of flowering, find a spot with brighter but still indirect light.

While they're relatively low-maintenance, it can be challenging to coax Brazilian lucky wood plants into flowering when grown indoors, but it's not impossible. As long as you fertilize your Brazilian lucky wood plant and provide it with sufficient light, moisture, and humidity, you'll have the best chances of it blooming.

Help your plant meet its full potential by keeping it in a warm area (ideally between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit) and by maintaining humidity levels. In spring and summer, water your plant when the top inch of soil is dry, and fertilize it monthly. In the fall and winter, give it a drink when the top 2 inches of soil are dry. Mist the leaves year-round if your area is dry. Typically, a plant that's 5 years old and older is more likely to produce flowers than a younger one. Even then, it may put on a floral show only every few years. But when it does, you can enjoy month-long continuous blooms and a heavenly scent.