Welcome
back to another belated episode of Lost in the Farmer’s Market or LITFM for
short. It’s funny how one might think everything stops cold (no pun intended)
in the winter because most things are not actively growing. The reality is that
January, February and March are all good months to plan, and begin laying the
foundations of a successful garden. Due to this and a sudden uptick in field operations
my writing time got slashed so this update is a bit late, but since I know we
have a rainy day this Wednesday expect the first February update to be then.
Ironically as I write this post the rain is coming down pretty hard which is
good because I spent yesterday afternoon cleaning up several areas of the test
gardens and planting a border of white daffodils around the memorial bed. Also,
a thick layer of pine straw was added to the bed since it’s been in almost a
year and the cypress mulch while nice isn’t holding up well. But before I bore
you any further with normal test garden procedure let me tell you what made the
maintenance run special.
In the front bed which is a bunch of overgrown, there
is a single red amaryllis. For months I planned to dig it and move it to a spot
where it would not be smothered by shrubs and never got to it. Yesterday I
finally did, and as I was digging around to find it since it had no foliage I
discovered that it was two bulbs. Two identical sized bulbs each roughly the
size of a baseball which means they were mature offshoots of the original
amaryllis. This was very fortunate because I wasn’t quite sure where I was
originally going to put the single amaryllis. I walked up the driveway and for
the briefest moment thought, “hmmm…two
amaryllis I could put them on opposite sides of the Martha’s Vineyard stone in
the memorial garden!” Within seconds of me finishing the thought I heard a
noise up in the pines at the back of the property and looked up to see a large
brown hawk landing on a branch and it sat there for a moment. As I got to
thinking, how close it was and just the sheer size of it, it took off and then
a second hawk farther out on the branch took off a second or two later to
follow. It was a mated pair probably, but were I the sort to really believe in
omens, this was definitely one. The two amaryllis went in the memorial garden and
the maintenance run was completed. This means that sometime in summer 2018, the
garden will be all white, except for those two-red amaryllis.
Test garden happenings aside, today’s
plant topic is the Sansevieria family all of whom are commonly called ‘snake
plants’, ‘mother-in-law’s tongue’ or ‘Lawyer’s Tongue’. Only the first common
name really is any sort of kind to this family of sturdy succulents from
Africa. In general, all forms of Snake Plant take roughly the same care, they
are soil insensitive as long as the soil isn’t constantly wet. You can
fertilize them, but do it sparingly and only during the growing season (April-October
in NC) and even then, use a liquid fertilizer with low nitrogen. Snake plants
can tolerate somewhat low light, and can weather some cold temperatures but
will not tolerate freezing or frost. Frost damage can permanently disfigure a
snake plant or be the cause of phantom frost damage. Phantom frost damage is
generally seen in succulents and some cacti, the signs of PFD, are that an
otherwise healthy succulent that may have been exposed to a frost upwards of a
week or two prior suddenly suffers stem collapse and or growing tip disfigurement
followed by stem or root rot. Only close observation can reveal this culprit as
root and stem rot may move in so quickly after that a misdiagnosis of rot may
occur. Of course, some think that the snake plants are bland, and for the most
part they are right, the common plain green snake plant is bland as hell.
However, as proven by NASA, and a few other organizations Snake plants are able
to remove benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene and xylene from the air. Below is a link to a rough list of what
houseplants clear what pollutants from the air, yes, I know it’s Wikipedia, but
at the bottom of the page it cites where the information came from.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Clean_Air_Study
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Sansevieria trifasciata – Snake Plant
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So,
with all that said let’s look at some of the varieties of snake plant one could
have in the home. Starting with plain old common, variegated snake plant. This
specimen (on the left) was brought into the Test garden houseplant collection as a fairly
small offset of a plant grown at Fayetteville Tech. In the time I’ve owned this
one it’s reached mature form and bloomed twice and the flowers are something to
behold. They come out on thin stems and look like little off-white pills with
droplets of honeydew/nectar which probably is to entice ants to hang around for
when the flowers open so they get pollinated. The flowers once open are pure
white, have tassel-like petals and are incredibly aromatic, but do not stink.
Unfortunately, the picture of this specimen does not reflect its current state
as this plant was heavily damaged by our two plus weeks of temperatures at or
below 20 degrees. It may or may not survive.
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Sansevieria trifasciata - ‘Moon Shine’
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Although tiny, this little one is
quite spectacular because it is all-white…sort of. It has a noticeable variance
in how it’s off-white variegation works because on one leaf you see it has the
traditional banding and on the other the leaf is solid white with a green
margin. This little plant was given to me by the Cactus lady at the
Fayetteville City Market because she found out I was looking for one. This is a
cheap promotion here but please hit her up this spring and summer she makes
some great full decoration terrariums. As for care, I presume ‘Moonshine’ is to
be treated like a traditional snake plant, limited water, small infrequent
fertilizing during the growing months and, unlike the normal snake plant, one
should expect a much slower growth rate. In plants with a white or nearly white
leaf color, often the striking hue comes with a cost as the given planet is
unable to photosynthesize as readily so it may need more regular fertilizer or
special care to prune out any reverted growth.
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Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Hahnii’ – Bird’s
Nest
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The Bird’s Nest is a dwarf form of Snake
plant that forms an almost cup-like cluster of leaves that someone at some
point decided that it resembles a bird’s nest. I personally can see the
comparison and really, I’m glad it’s not called something negative. The chief advantage
to swarf forms of snake plant is that they don’t use up as much vertical space
so you get all the air purification, but less of the clutter. Also, dwarf snake
plants offset more readily and require repotting less frequently as they are
cluster forming and adapted for close quarters.
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Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Golden Hahnii’ –
Golden Bird’s Nest
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I know what you are thinking, ‘hey that’s
not much different than the last one!’ you are right, it isn’t, that’s is
because the golden birds nest comes in a few separate forms, and the yellow-green
banded type show is one of them. I should note that a golden-yellow variety is
sold that carries all its color on the leaf margins is also called golden bird’s
nest. These succulents take the same care as the bigger snake plants, and seem
to respond more to fertilizer.
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Sansevieria laurentii – Golden Snake
Plant
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I should note, that the Laurentii type snake plants don’t actually
have a common name so I just rolled with a rather obvious one for them. The
bright golden-yellow margins of this plant are striking and help define the
green banded parts incredibly well which is why this is the preferred type of
snake plant for living arrangements and generally for gift-giving to those who
seem to be unable to take care of house plants.
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Sansevieria cylindrica – Spear
Snake Plant
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I first read about Spear Sansevieria
in a book called ‘Bizarre Botanicals’ by Larry Mellinchamp and Paula Gross (pg.
272-273). Honestly, I agree with their
assessment of the plant, it’s literally as minimalist as it gets and yet as
with plain snake plant it’s blooms are incredible, and it is equally as
interesting as a pencil cactus for the fact it is so simplistic. I bought this
specimen about five or more years ago from a Nursery in Sanford North Carolina
called ‘Big Bloomers’ when they randomly and out of the blue had a crop of
spear sansevieria. Since then the mother plant you see has been repotted a few
times, and I’ve given away or sold numerous pups. As far as houseplants go,
this one is easy, and in theory could be the plant I decorate for Christmas next
year given it’s size.
This
brings to a close the second post of January and a brief look into the Snake Plant
family and a few of it’s options. For note this is where the advertising starts
because it keeps the Test Garden’s supplied. As always barring terribly wet and
cold weather or illness I still manage a vendor’s space at the Fayetteville
City Market at 325 Maxwell street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. I
sell four things primarily during the winter months and they are:
Soup
Kits - $6.00
Seasoning
Packets – $2.00
Whole
Garlic – $1.00
Fresh
Organic Ginger - $1.00
Also,
I will be bringing a number of random house plants every week if weather
permits and While the assortment is purely random, there is not a thing for
sale that is above $8.00.
If
the market isn’t your thing or your schedule does not allow you to go there my
premium exotic house plants can be purchased in attractive clay pots with
unique embellishments at LeClair’s General Store. LeClair’s General Store is
located on 1212 Fort Bragg Road in Fayetteville North Carolina.
This
is their Facebook Page:
The
Visit NC page’s Listing:
Currently,
as of last delivery (02-02-2018) the store has a number of barrel cactus, a few
tree philodendrons, some prickly pears, haworthia, rare and unusual aloes and
other surprises. These days I am generally at the store at least twice a week,
maintaining stock and/or delivering new materials so if you go to visit the
store there is a fair chance I’ll be present to answer your questions. If not,
you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market
or pay attention to what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.
This brings to a close the second
LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned for the first February update of 2018
this Wednesday. The topic for the next update is Christmas cactus, and there is
a special treat because the Test Garden’s specimens of ‘Lime Light’ Christmas
Cactus bloomed and I snapped a photo and trust me, the colors are not what you
expect.
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