snake plant

‘SNAKE’ plant WHAT??? Do not worry I am not talking about a real snake, but a super cool house plant that can double as a porch plant in the summer. SANSEVIERIA trifasciata to be exact, now identified as DRACAENA trifasciata.  Silly botanist never leaving well enough alone…Botanist aside, you probably know this plant as “snake plant” or my favorite “mother-in-law tongue” or “Saint George’s sword”.

These plants are easy care gems for the house, office and your porch in the summer months.  They have an upright growing habit so they stay nicely contained in their space. Some grow tall and spiky up to 3 or 4 feet tall.  Some have solid striped leave and others have a yellow gold edged leaf.  Their leaves can be straight and tall or short and squat.  They have a twisty curvy sister too.  Grow one or more and add cool texture and interest to any room, office or porch.  Even NASA studied the snake plant and really likes it for its air cleaning abilities. Now I know, most of us want to be as kind to our green leafy babies as we can be but this is truly one baby that survives happily on a little healthy neglect.  They like light as much as any plant however, they are very tolerant of accepting whatever location relative to light that their human caregivers want to place them, and they don’t complain too much if they don’t have a regular watering schedule. In fact, this is one plant that actually prefer to live in a little tighter quarters than most and doesn’t need, nor require, regular repotting’s into bigger pots.  They can actually hangout in the same pot for years.   Some say that it might be mean and stressful for the plant to leave them in the same pot so long, but I have to disagree.  You see when a snake plant is “stressed” it blooms.  Yes, I said BLOOMS.  Snake plant flowers grow on a very long flower spike that emerge from the base of the plant. The flower spikes get quite tall nestled in among the leaves and will be covered in many flower buds that when fully open will be reminiscent of an exotic white lily.  If the surprise and the beauty of the flower is not enough it has a strong but very pleasant scent to add to the joy. Thus, I say they bloom because they are happy, snug as a bug in a rug with all their friends and family.  It’s their way of smiling at us.