Growing Sansevieria

Sansevieria is an extremely popular tropical houseplant, partly because of it's architectural appearance and partly because it is so darn easy to grow. Sanseveria is often known as Mother in Law's Tongue or Snake Plant.

ABOVE: Sansevieria trifasciata

If grown indoors it is important to plant sanseveria in a pot with good ventilation and using well drained soil. For a ventilated pot you either want a clay pot of a pot with holes in the bottom. Over watering a sansaveria is one of the few ways to kill it. So, water sparingly, especially in the winter. While they can survive in low light, a sanseveria will benefit from a sunny indoor window. A plant in full sun will need more water than a plant in low light.

If you live in an area without frost you can plant sanseveria outdoors. I have found that they do well in a shady or partly shady location. Unless you live in the desert you will probably not need to water your plant very often.

The most common species of sanseveria sold is Sansevieria trifasciata, which has leaves that look like tall swords. The leaves usually have distinctive variegated yellow edges. This can be propagated either by division or by cutting pieces of the leaves and plating them in light soil. Division is much easier to do and will have a high success rate. Rooting leaf cuttings can work, but is trickier to do, and is likely to result in plants without the yellow variegation.

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Growing Sansevieria

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