Lost and Found: Euphorbia milii

Sheesh, two weeks vacation from work has totally destroyed any pretense of motivation. Despite what people may think, there are plenty of plant related things to post about during the winter. Too bad its a bit colder out, and the sun isn't around as much and I just feel so much lazier about posting. I suppose I should give myself some credit and say that I haven't been completely lazy. I have been working on learning to write in Russian lately (which is time consuming) and I've been kicking up the fire spinning practice since I had to slack on that with all of the Christmas parties in December.

But at least some of my plants are working overtime this winter. My co worker found 3 of these lovely Euphorbia milii in the park last fall. I took one, our assistant gardener took one, and the third was given to a kid on a bike who seemed to be very pleased to have some spiky thing to show his mother.

They were crazy overgrown. I really can't imagine how someone went without pruning these for so long. I had to zip tie the plant together just to get it to fit in the subway door on my way home. Needless to say, no one really wanted to sit next to me on my way to Bay ridge.

I can't really imagine where someone must have kept these. They were all in hanging baskets so I have to assume someone had some large bright NYC windows, something I'll never have. The plants were also covered in mealy bugs. I can only suspect that someone was moving or noticed that the plants had bugs for the first time and just freaked out.

I spot treated affected areas with alcohol and doused the entire plant with insecticidal soap. I don't need a plant this large contaminating my entire collection. It lost a lot of leaves after the ride home and I cut off most of the bracts (larvae like to hide in new growth). 3 weeks later, the thing was in full bloom like nothing ever happened.

 

The bracts on this plant are pretty interesting. There are different stages of coloring. The bracts start yellow, mature to pink with a yellow stripe, and then continue to full pink before shriveling up. 

Good find. ;)

  

I guess I should back track when I say bracts. The petal parts of what you would assume are the flowers of this succulent are actually modified leaves called bracts. The true flowers are small and are in the center of the bracts. Euphorbia milii is commonly referred to as Crown of Thorns. One look at the spines on this thing and you'll know this plant was well named. Leaves are mostly found on new growth and the plant is well known for exhibiting apical dominance. Anyone growing crown of thorns should cut back the main leader from time to time to keep the plant full and bushy. This is best done in late spring. 

When cutting back euphorbias, be aware that they are spiny and that their sap produces latex. If you have latex allergies, wear gloves.  Run any cuts on euphorbias under water to cause them to clot quicker. This will make cleaning up your plant that much easier. Everyone has told me that cuttings root well in 6 weeks. I haven't tried them yet. 

(Note the zip ties.)

I've been pleased with this plant so far but its going to take me quite awhile to get it to produce a reasonable shape. I've read that you should cut back a third of the plant or less every time.. so I don't expect this to be a one year pruning fix. Meh, maybe I'll just try to braid the thing into some weird form. I just have to find impenetrable gloves first.