Sansevieria cylindrica, my favorite plant this week (and no, it’s not in the garden)

Since returning home from San Francisco and the Garden Bloggers Fling it’s felt like we’re running a bed and breakfast, one guest after another for the entire month! Not that I’m complaining, as these are all friends and family here to visit and enjoy Portland’s amazing summer weather.

So what does this little tidbit have to do with “my favorite plant?” Well when I was making up the guest bed for the third time I found myself focusing on the Sansevieria cylindrica sitting on the nightstand. It has been ages since I really looked at it, poor thing. I guess it had mentally become furniture after moved it downstairs, out of the way of our Christmas tree about three years ago, and then forgot about it.

Yes three years! Three years in the basement with very little light, practically no water. I mean surely I’ve watered it at some point in those three years? (I did water it right after taking these pictures) Doesn’t it look amazing all things considered? Sure the leaves look a little deflated and it’s rather “splayed” (a sign of not enough light) but it’s still alive…

In better days, when it was in front of a window in the living room, it bloomed. I remember the flower as being very fragrant at night.

So yes, I am blogging about a houseplant, in the summertime when there are plenty of other plants to focus on; I think this one deserves a little praise. There’s a reason sansevieria are in offices and malls all over the world, they’re tough!

The stats:

• Hails from Angola where it can reach 3-4 ft tall and 2-3 ft wide
• Hardy in zones 10a-11
• Prefers cool sun/light shade
• Needs little water. According to San Marcos Growers: “This plant can go weeks between watering (3 week irrigation intervals are suggested); the one thing that usually kills a Sansevieria is overwatering.” (something I definitely haven't done!)

And yes I really did just put pictures of our cheesy basement "guest corner" on the internet, evidently I have no shame...

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Squid, Sardine and Coconut Jam

My husband Andrew recently moved into a new office with a nice big window, being a smart man he figured this was the perfect spot for a few plants. I would have been happy to fix him up with a fine selection (in fact I’d already bought a couple I thought he would like) but he had a vision of his own…

Which as it turns out is far cooler than anything I could have come up with.

First there's a Squid, in natural ink.

Which holds a Pachypodium.

The Sardine, in tomato sauce.

With an Aloe bowiea and a pair of Gasteria batesiana.

And finally the Coconut Jam.

With an Aloe divaricata.

Pretty darn cool I think. I wonder if I can get him to design another set for home?

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Waste not want not…

Oh how I hated the idea of cutting off all those fragrant Clematis armandii blooms before they had a chance to open. But ya’ll convinced me they needed to go (cut back the vine!) so before I dug out the plants I cut and saved any bits with buds and put them in vases.

Lots of vases.

And my reward? A lovely subtle perfume throughout the house and sweet little white flowers.

Did you notice the post cards in front of the vase above? These were Christmas gifts (along with the cool stands). I love the vintage desert scenes...

As you might have guessed I have a hard time throwing away any branches I trim from the garden. Why let them go to waste? So naturally the bits I trimmed from the Arctostaphylos denisflora ‘Harmony’ made it into a vase as well.

They play very nicely with the rest of my green/grey/white mantle-scape.

Callistemon branches work too…

As well as prunings from Rubus lineatus (in the orange vase).

Bringing bits of the garden into the house helps me feel connected even when I can’t be out in the garden.

Looking at the things around the vase…this old metal toy and tillandsia were part of a Happy Anniversary diorama from Andrew, the wheelbarrow wheel really turns!

My plant lust partner Megan brought back this fluorescent reindeer-moss covered stick from a trip to Central Oregon, Andrew added the legs.

A close up of the big spikes on Euphorbia milii.

Not all garden cuttings do well though, I’ve found that euphorbia flowers inevitably bring aphids into the house (yuck!) and I can’t for the life of me get a colocasia leaf to survive in a vase, they wilt in about 30 seconds flat. So what's your favorite thing to bring in from the garden?

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.