I go through all my plants monthly during the winter to see what needs additional care, and have the following to report on my Sansevierias:

S. parva is coming into bloom. 5 Plants will flower in the next couple of weeks. This is always nice, as parva has a pleasant fragrance, and will perfume the plant room for a month or more while flowering. This also means that I'll have to divide in the spring, as the adult plants can put out a lot of strong runners.

S. balleyii is coming into bloom. Only one will flower this year, and it is one of the unrooted runners. I can't seem to get the roothed plants to flower, but the first pup always seems to flower while it is still unrooted. This one will probably flower in two months or so, the flower stalk is deep inside the rosette.

S. hallii is sending up a new growth (single leaf). There are two plants in the pot (I repotted in the fall), each are about 28" tall. Oldest has three leaves, next has two. This plant doesn't pup every year for me - sometimes it skips a year. I was sure it was skipping this year, especially with the repotting. It's in a 10" clay pot, with PLENTY of room. I expect it to grow slowly, as it has lots of new soil to fill with roots.

S. hallii variegated is sending up a new growth(singe leaf). It doesn't look variegated yet. This is the first growth on this plant for me. It came from a reputable grower, who informed me that all growths are variegated. I'm not concerned, as the leaf is still pink (they emerge pink for me, and don't really green up until a couple of inches high). I hope it is variegated.

S. cylindrica pautula variegated. No additional growth. It is one adult plant (badly cold damaged, with one leaf remaining) and who offsets that remain small (under 10" leaves - 4 or 5 per plant). The pups are developing nice variegation, but one is still pretty light (not a lot of green in it). I might have to divide this plant come spring. It is currently in a clay pot.

S. fischerii didn't produce any new growths this year. I wonder if it is too pot bound. The leaves are continuing to grow a little bit, and it has both mature and juvenile leaves in the 10" pot - jam-packed tight in a clay pot.

S. masoniana (Mason Congo) is straing to push some new growth - at least one new leaf (it's tightly curled, so I can't see if there is another inside it) that is already 20" tall. It wasn't there a month ago. Only one growth is apparent thsi year - suprising, since I had three growths last year. This one is definitly being divided in spring. This is growing in a plastic flowerpot, and it is so deformed from the roots pushing against the sides that the pot will no longer stand upright without assistance.

S. cylindrica I have two growths in am 8" plastic pot. It finally produced enough roots to support itself - although a lack of roots never seemed to bothe rthis plant much. The first growth was over 4' tall, with 3 leaves, very few roots (not enopugh to hold it in the pot) and it flowered. It since produced a pup with MUCH thicker leaves than the parent (still without many roots) that required a scaffold of stakes to keep the in the pot this summer. I don't know what made it finally grow roots, but now the pot is full of roots, and it will probably have to be repotted in spring. I am grateful that it is finally growing roots.

S. trifasciata 'Bantells sensation' is always a problem for me. This plant absolutly does not like it cold or wet for the winter. I think I may have found a good spot for it, as it isn't showing any signs of rust or rot. I was able to force this into dormancy in September, asn it seems to have worked. Any problems this winter, and I'll get rid of this plant (which would be a shame,as I started with only one small plant, and now I have a nice pot of about 8 that is starting to look pretty nice).

All of the other plants have no changes to them - all are growing well and as expected. A couple of the trifasciata varieties continue to send up new growths (as expected), and all of the other species are pretty much done for the year, and are already dormant.

I try and keep the dormant plantrs seperated from the activly growing plants, so I don't water dormant plants too much. Now that everything is settled in for the winter,I'll stop watering the dormant plants until February. Plants still growing will get a little wayer every two weeks.

My plant room is pretty bright, and I have the heat set to keep the temperature 70F - 80F during the day, and down to 60F at night. I water other plants in the room as needed (I have mostly succulents and a couple of flowering plants for winter color).

I'll see if I can borrow a digital camera and take some pictures to post. I hope to get some before spring, but I'll definitly be taking inventory of everything in the summer.

Joe 'your friendly reporter' DeRosa