Sansevieria, Snake Plant, or Mother-in-Law’s Tongue is one of those plants that people love or hate. Rarely is there an in between. I’m in the love camp. I think it’s the mid-century modern lover in me, this plant just begs to be in a glamorous Palm Springs ranch.Going even one better is the Sansevieria cylindrica. The first one of these I saw was a fake, nice try I thought; too bad there isn’t such a thing in ‘real life’. Then I saw a real one, wow! A plant with completely round spiky leaves! So sculptural! Naturally I had to have it.
Then this happened. A small bud started to emerge.
And it kept getting bigger and taller…
And now the flowers are opening, and their scent is AMAZING!
Houseplants can be such a nice wintertime gardening diversion, especially when they reward you with beautiful fragrant flowers!
I am also a sanseveiria fan-I like the cylindrica-yes, the scent of the blooms was quite a surprise, and the gold edged one that look like flames. Of course they are hard to beat on the "thrive with no care whatsoever" front.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful, fragrant bonus for a cool plant. I love sanseveria, too, but hadn't seen the cylindrica. Thanks a lot, Loree: now, of course, now I have to have it! Yours looks great next to that yellow bromiliad and the cute little succulent rosette.
ReplyDeleteI had a nice collection of these growing, until my wife and son's cats got ahold of them. Over the course of the winter they were destroyed, except for S. cylindrica, which we have 3 of now.
ReplyDeleteWow, I cannot recall ever seeing a Sansevieria in bloom before, sweet. Ahhh, trifasciata..how I love thee. Matti
ReplyDeleteI am blown away by that flower. How incredibly cool!
ReplyDeleteNicole, you are correct about them thriving with no care! I had a dark hallway in my old home that needed a plant at the end to "anchor" it. My Sanseviera did the trick perfectly with no complaining.
ReplyDeleteJane, glad to spread the word! I got mine at Urban Flora on Division.
Les, seriously? What did they do to them? And did you divide your 1 plant to get 3?
faroutflora, did you see the great birds-nest Sansevieria on the Cactus Jungle blog a while back? http://www.cactusjungle.com/blog/page/8/
Jenn, it is!
The cats chewed and shredded the foliage to the soil line. I likely could have saved them, but it would have taken several years for them to return to anything attractive. I found you can cut off a stalk of cylindrica, let the cut end dry for a week or two, then replant it. It takes a while but new growth will come from below the soil line.
ReplyDeleteKinda resent the name (what with being a mother-in-law and all) but love the plant!
ReplyDeleteOh, lucky, lucky, you!
ReplyDeleteI think the cylindrica is also called an elephant's toothpick in Australia.
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