No I don’t speak Latin; that is the name of my favorite house plant.  I just call it the tree.  I have 3 pots of them; two of the green leaf variety and one with red edges on its leaves.

I have one pot with three marginata in it.  It was on the lanai at Siesta Key and contracted a sooty mildew from the jasmine bushes on the other side of the screen.  A friend of mine gave me some Neem Oil in a spray bottle to cure it.  I didn’t get to it in time because we moved to the Alabama coast and the plants were all packed in my car.  Meanwhile, the pot next to it, holding 3 more marginata contracted a mild case of sooty mildew.  When we finally made it to Alabama and unpacked, the sooty mildew had (I supposed) killed all of the leaves on the first pot of 3 plants and so I stuck it outside, but I did spray it (I am an optimist that thinks things will always get better…even when they’re dead).  I sprayed Neem oil on the other potted marginata which, after 3 days was clear of its mildew.

My husband wanted to throw the “dead” plants out but I decided to cut about 3 inches of the tops off and then kept it watered and in the shade outside.  The tips withered and dried out like prunes.  Well, we’ve been here for 4 weeks and the trunk/stems (whatever  you call it) of the “dead” marginata have numerous shoots coming out from it.  Wow, I will have a full plant with leaves all over it instead of just at the top.  How cool.

The moral to the story is … if you think your plant is dead, nurture it.  Chances are it is still alive.