garden

Opposite: Sansevierias make ideal container
plants, and here the contrast between goldedged
'Futura Simplex' and almost-black
'Nelsoni' makes for good patio companions.
Though the thick rhizomes have been known
to break pots, sturdy examples like the Low
Tahoe Planters from Campania International
should be up to the challenge. Below: An unusual
species with speckled foliage discovered
in the Congo, Sansevieria masoniana, has
extremely large leaves — 8 to 10 inches wide
and up to 4 feet tall. Right: Silvery 'Moonshine'
reveals the adaptability of sansevierias to
both in-ground and container culture.
lant snobbery has a strong allure, with a certain
smug satisfaction to be gained by inspiring awe and
envy among fellow gardeners with tales of growing
some obscure, persnickety plant. But there is power
in simplicity and undeniable appeal in something being easy. The
poster child for trouble-free gardening would unquestionably be
Sansevieria, but these plants are also a class act, exemplifying
the commonplace gone chic. Their combination of utility and
sleek stylishness makes them the botanical equivalent of the little
black dress.
The most prevalent are Sansevieria trifasciata, commonly called
snake plant, with horizontal bands of dark and light green, and its
variety 'Laurentii', decked out with yellow edges. But these days
there's no excuse in stopping there, with the assortment of short,
tall, nearly black, thin-leaved, twisted, Luna-moth-green cultivars
out there. When I heard that my friend and fellow writer Felder
Rushing had an actual collection of sansevierias, I was intrigued,
and my own little assemblage is growing. I'm now fighting the
urge to become a fanatical collector. Apparently some of the more
unusual forms are even bringing big bucks on eBay.
The charm of sansevierias isn't lost on designers either. Twentyplus
years ago, when Fort Lauderdale-based garden designer Luis
Llenza began using them in his landscapes, there were only three
types to work with. Now he has a much wider selection of varieties
at his disposal, employing them as edging, groundcovers
and anchors, en masse, in containers, for color, and as texture
companions for agaves and grasses. He calls them "tough and
edgy," favoring those with crisply defined coloring. Though
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