You certainly had fun with this! Yes, it’s “lucky bamboo,” a name which is completely inappropriate given that it’s not bamboo (but Dracaena sanderiana) and it’s certainly not lucky:
Now “spiral lucky bamboo” is usually dracaena (or as I like to call it “not-bamboo”) that’s been exposed to a unidirectional light source and turned at intervals to create a contorted spiral shape:
These plants, on the other hand, have been cut into straight sections and bound with shiny gold wire in ever increasing lengths so that we have a leaning tower of not-bamboo surrounded by adulating ceramic frogs (good eyes Anne and Jam!). Given enough time – a few weeks, maybe – whatever architectural appeal this arrangement had will be covered with leafy growth from all those sprouting nodes.
There’s a homework assignment for someone: buy one of these, then film it under time lapse photography. If our tech guys ever get our video capability up on this blog, I’ll post them!
Actually they don’t get covered with new growth. They keep their shape quite well. I had one for eight years that looked quite good the whole time.
Joe, that’s really interesting. I wonder why the leaves don’t continue expanding or die off?
Anyone else out there have experience with these things?
I was surprised too. I thought for sure it would turn into a mess, but new growth was only on the top.
They’re actually very good houseplants.