I REALLY SMELL!

Have I got your attention? Well, if I haven't then wait until evening because that is when I will wow you with the most incredible fragrance. And look how small I am! Just a foot tall and skinny with it. 

 

Who am I? I'm Sansevieria parva, or the Kenyan hyacinth and as you might guess I am native to Eastern Africa. 

 

Until a couple for weeks ago I simply consisted of ten or so strappy, foot-long leaves each dark green and banded horizontally with a lighter green. Then suddenly I produced a flowers stalk which grew in length until my flowers began to open from the bottom up.

 

My blooms stay open during the day but it is at night I come to life perfuming the air with the sweetest springtime fragrance, reminiscent of hyacainths.

I don't like too much water and prefer a well draining cactus mix and don't leave me out in the cold. Only zone 10 and up for outdoors. I am perfectly happy in a bright room with indirect light and treat me right I will perfume your house in the spring for many nights and I may even make babies.

FINAL POST OF THE YEAR 2016

There is just time to get one quick post in before we roll into 2017. I wonder what kind of gardening year it will be? Hot, cold, wet, dry? I little or a lot of each I imagine and sometimes when unexpected. Rather like the freeze we had while I was away 2 weeks ago. A low in the 20s brought quite a lot of destruction to the garden. Then, mother nature threw in a few 80º days just for good measure. Fortunately most of the potted plants were safe in the greenhouse, potting shed, garage or house.

The garden is looking pretty sad but in the house the plant of the moment is this Sansevieria parva, Kenyan hyacinth. So named because the fragrance is similar to that of the hyacinth. Thanks Julie Marcus for the passalong. Just as you said the fragrance is quite amazing, especially in the evening.

The calamondin orange trees are still bearing fruit. I have already made two batches of marmalade and will make more early in January. Hopefully enough to last the whole year.

The calamondins are one of the hardiest citrus but I don't plan to risk their lives. They are in pots and spend the winter in the house, which they tolerate well.

Already there are there signs that 2017 is on the way.

Gulf coast penstemon

HAPPY NEW GARDENING YEAR, everyone.