Let's see the oldest plant (s) in your collection.It's amazing to me my MIL has Pothos that are over 15 years old and still going strong.
I have this AV that is about 6 years old.

Here are three Plumeria brought back from Maui 28 years ago. They were all pinky-size, 1/2"x6" cuttings when I brought them back and now they have 4-6" diameter bases. The pictures were taken last June.

WOW Ken! They look great I love that they were so small when you got them must be rewarding to see them thriving. I guess when I think about how old some Bonsai are I just can't wrap my mind about the care and planning that goes into their longevity.

Are you ever right-on, Angela. Dedication to Bonsai is in a world of its own.

You'll notice how "short" my old Plumeria are. Since I grow them in a temperate region, I have to bring all my tropical plants in in the fall. If I didn't constantly cut my Plumeria plants back, they would now be 40-50' trees!

OMG! Do you prune the roots or just the top or both? I just finished a class on plant propagation and was introduced to root pruning though I have yet to try it on my own plants.

I don't worry about the roots. Since the plants are dormant for so long, the roots sort of prune themselves during dormancy (I guess).

Oh yeah that makes sense they probably break off self pruning.

When we first moved to the Houston area in 1982, I picked up a little 4" pot with a ficus plant at the local Handy Dan store. The Handy Dan store is long gone but the tree has been trimmed 3 times to keep it manageable. I might be 30 feet tall if I hadn't done that. Here it is on the left last summer. She is safely bundled up and happy in the greenhouse for the winter. The other, on the right was a standard 4' store-bought ficus tree from 1984 when we moved into our new house. It was pruned better than I could do. I'll let you do the math. But I've had both a long time. Actually had 3 until recently. The move to Houston killed all my plants. I got talked into putting them into the moving van instead of moving them myself. The van broke down in San Antonio and it took a week to fix it, then they couldn't find our house. I received some very hot plant "coffins". The little plant from Handy Dan was the first houseplant to start rebuilding my collection again.

You lost them all, Cheryl?! That's just terrible. Over time, special (old) plants become part of our family. Those two plants you show are the Ficus benjamina or what most people just call the Benjamin tree.

I actually do grow (and sell) two types of ficus trees, the Ficus lyrata aka Fiddle Leaf Ficus and the Ficus maclellandii 'Alii' aka Narrow Leaf Ficus. Unlike the Benjamin, these two don't drop their leaves when the conditions change (moving them in and out of the house for example) and grow more compactly. The Fiddle Leaf has to be cut back a foot twice a year to keep is 6'-7' tall. My "mother" Fiddle is 30 years old, and like your Benjamin, she would be a 50' tree if not for the cutting. The Narrow Leaf grows more slowly, so I only have to cut her back every couple of years.


The Fiddle grown outside in a sub-tropical region



Speaking of old plants, and Bonsai being one of the oldest forms of growing them, did you know that Staghorn Ferns are well-documented to live well over 100 years. The will outlive their owners. How about that.

Since a plant isn't born the day one takes ownership (unless sprouting seeds,) this is actually 2 separate questions, "Which plant have you had the longest," and, "Which of your plants do you think is the oldest?"

To answer the former, I've had plain green Chinese evergreen, heart-leaf Philodendron vine, and plain green spider plant since the early 80's. They originally lived in a planter together. I've added many pics to the DB entries here:
Chinese Evergreen (Aglaonema modestum)
Heart Leaf Philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum var. oxycardium)

(I don't keep this in a pot anymore, the love affair is over:)
Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum)

It's impossible to say for sure, but I don't think those are the oldest plants that now live @ my house. About 20 yrs ago, my Gramma gave me a Dracaena marginata tree and a pot of Sansevieria that she'd had for many decades (and were of significant size when she got them.) So both of those are at least 80 yrs old, though certainly none of the individual leaves are that age.
Dragon Tree (Dracaena reflexa var. angustifolia 'Tricolor')
Snake Plant (Dracaena trifasciata)

Forgot to say, your Plumies are inspiring, Ken!!

Tiffany. I can't wait to see the blooms on those seedlings that I started last December, 2013, April, and June. Those two December ones are 3'+ tall and are just loaded with leaves. All the seedlings were overwintered in a greenhouse, and kept watered, as Hetty suggested.

Cheryl that is some story my heart sank as I read it I'm glad you had success rebuilding and your ficus is awesome I want one.

Ken I did not know that about the staghorn fern very interesting!

Tiffany very true and good point I didn't grow my av from seed so it's probably a little older then I think.

On Dec. 29, 2014, ATP published an article about staghorns/elkhorns. You might find that article interesting.

One of my oldest plants will be my dwarf schefflera..I have had this since 2004 while we were then living in Los Angeles:

An old photo taken in 2006:



Repotted several times, cuttings taken several times..still alive, stays outdoors year round:
It has already formed a very sturdy base, multi stemmed..such a tough plant that endures our triple digit dry summer heat and our occasional freezing winter temps.

Thanks Ken

That's a beauty Tarev.

Thanks Angela

Very nice, Tarev. I lost my 8 ft tall Japanese Scehfflera that I had for 8 years+ during the 1982 move.

Oh, that is sad Cheryl...no cuttings saved at all?