Welcome to the Sansevieria addiction!!! If your Sansevieria trifasciatas are doing well for you, you shouldn't have trouble with most of the others. I grow mine as houseplants in less than ideal conditions in New Jersey, without a greenhouse. I do put them outside in summer. They do not like temperatures that are too cold, nor do they want to be too wet, and the combination of wet and cold can kill them. Actually, mine do fine in the summer, even when soaked with rain for days...as long as they are warm and in active growth. So put them in a pot with a drainage hole and good quality but porous soil (like for cactus). Good luck and enjoy! The ones wiht thicker leaves like clindrica and pinguicula I think want more sunlight than some of the floppier leaf types. BTW, "Mason Congo" is just a common name for S. masoniana. A neat Sans which can get BIG with time.

Hi bunnygurl,

Hope you are able to get the Sans you have bid on. I agree with what woodnative says.

I have the first three plants. Sans masoniana grows reaaaaaallly slowly for me, although this summer two plants sent runners out the sides of their pots, just when I had decided they were not going to grow at all.

Isn't Sans pinguicula great! Although the "pin" in pinguicula should be a warning to growers. Ouch! Also rather slow-growing.

My favorite is Sans cylindrica. I just love the long arching "leaves". Mine flowers almost every fall with sweet-wmelling flowers that then drop all over.

Good luck,
Elsie

Argh! Someone outbid me on the pinguicula! I'm gonna go sniper bidder on them and bid when there's a couple mins left on the clock!

Oop...hope I'm not bidding against anyone on here. =P

Someone beat me out of the lavranos...I'm quite sad...I almost thought I was gonna cry...

Oh well. Three left! *Crosses fingers*

Well, lost on the lavranos and the cylindrica, but won the masoniana and pinguicula, but darn did I have to fight for the pinguicula. Outbid the other person with 6 secs left. It was a rush!

Do these ones enjoy being potbound like trifasciatas, or do they want room? I've been growing the first Sans trifasciata I got (of this collection, I've had to start over a couple times) for almost 3 yrs and it's still in a 4in. pot.

Do masoniana and pinguicula offset readily or will it take forever to get offsets 'cause my mother really really wants these too, but I can't afford to buy her her own.

I'll keep trying to find a lavranos and cylindrica. Thanks for the help!

I think I was watching the same seller that you were. I won a Sansevieria 'Minnie' from him yesterday. I was thinking of bidding on that masoniana as well until I read that the leaves can get 10 inches wide and 4 feet tall. That's a little too big for me. The lavranos and pinguicula caught my eye as well, but I need to cut back on the plant purchases. I think I've bought close to 40 new plants this year.

I've never grown your plants so I don't have any specific advice, but I've found that a porous soil (I use Al's mix from the container forum) and a pot just a couple inches larger than the plant/rootball is nearly foolproof for most plants.

Good luck with them!

I grow all four, be very careful on Ebay, you may not get what you have ordered, and be sure to report it if they switched plants on you, most of the sellers don't know what they have or care. I have been cheated several times even with my experience. So has other professional growers that I know. Norma

Hey bunnygurl-
You may find cylindrica in a local store if you keep an eye out. They keep showing up more and more.
I think the idea of keeping them in a small pot is just to keep them from staying damp, especially if cool. If you plant them in a quality soil that is relatively fast draining then don't worry about pot size. You can keep moving them into larger pots as they grow. In fact, if you gradually adjust them to outside conditions in summer they will thrive in the heat and sunlight then, and reward you with offsets at the end of the summer. During the summer growth spurt water and fertilize regularly, but keep them dryer in winter, esp. if your house is cool and or conditions are dim. I don't have S. pinguicula but it is supposed to be a slow grower. Norma may be able to tell you more about that one.....she has quite a collection and a lot of experience!!

S.Masoniana Old name when found Mason the man who found it and Congo is the country where found

S. cylindrica v. patula v. means the variety, there are more than one.

Lav. is the abbreviation of the mas name and his collection # 23154 No name applied yet. It is from the city or provience or Mogadishu

The Sans pinguicula grows slowly for me. I bought my plant in Austin in 2001. It sent out the first two offsets two years later. One I gave away and still have the other. The original has a new offset that is still pretty small; so that is seven years for the second growth!

They spent the summer and fall outside, but my yard has a lot of trees so get somewhat filtered light.

Elsie

I don't mind slow growers so much. It gives me a greater sense of pride when it does something awesome like flower or offset.

The seller shipped them out a couple days ago so I should be getting the pretty quick. I'm so excited!

In my experience neither S. Mason's Congo (which I've had for a few years) nor S/. Pinguicula (which I loved & lost) are fast growers or quick to offset). Nice to grow tho' & pretty easy. I just always use clay pots for them & very porous mix, works for me!

Bunnygirl, I gave you a partial list or what are the hardest to grow. But those the ones that are not usually available. So don't worry they won't come up for sale. One is cheap at $25.00 at most, but it gets rust, so must not be watered this time of the year. 'Forscate' is also difficult, until you learn the trick. I propageted 250 plants for the Huntington. It's about time, the first 100 were destroyed by lack of care. I started out with only one pot full, it took me 10 years, I really cried. They left them out in the cold over a weekend. Leaves will not work on any of these that I mentioned. Offsets and rhizomes are methods of propagation. Norma