Long Awaited Update

Hello readers, I am back! I know that it has been forever since I last posted which was approximately two and half years ago. A lot has transpired since then and I am glad to be posting again. It is late in the summer season and the month of August is coming to a close. Today I will show the progress of some plants in my collection. The first plant is my recently acquired Parlor Palm or Chamaedorea elegans. Another common name is Neanthe bella palm. Here is a photo:

This is a great plant and I really like looking at it often. It is located seven feet away from two east facing windows in my living room. I give it a thorough watering once a week and I mist the foliage twice per week as the humidity levels in my home are relatively low. Although it is almost fall, I will most likely repot this parlor palm into something more roomier.

The next plant that will be covered is my Sansevieria trifasciata robusta plant that I originally acquired in January of 2015 as a small two dollar plant from the grocery store. Here is a photo from January of 2018:

At that time, the plant was growing nicely. I could tell that it was root bound in the ceramic pot so during March of 2018, I repotted this plant into a larger plastic planter. This in turn encouraged more new growth where more rhizomes popped up. The next photo is from January of 2019:

This past spring, I realized that the plastic planter was making the plant root bound once again, so this sansevieria was upgraded again to a slightly larger plastic planter which also encouraged more new growth. From late spring to the summer months, I kept this plant on my east facing balcony. This past June, the plant did flower surprisingly. I was ecstatic to make this discovery. Here are some photos:

These were taken the very first night that the blooms opened. This is actually rare for sansevierias. When this occurs, the plants are often mature and have endured some slightly stressful growing conditions. I believe that this plant in particular endured less than optimal watering which could have been a contributing factor to the blooming. The blooms had an indescribable fragrance and it was quite enjoyable. I call it a natural air freshener. Here are some photos from the day time:

This was simply an awesome aspect of sansevierias to experience and observe. The last, but most certainly not least plant that will be discussed for today is my Norfolk Island Pine or Araucaria heterophylla. I have had this plant since the end of 2015. It was originally a pot full of pine stems. Over time, many of them died off and there is one stem who survived:

I am actually surprised that this plant has survived for this long. I remember in the past, I have had not too many successes with Norfolk Island pines. When I first acquired this plant, it lived in a west facing window for approximately six months. The remaining three years, it was lived in an east facing window. I really like this plant personally. I unintentionally ignore it often and it does not seem to mind at all. Also the appearance is awesome to look at. The designs that the branches create all together supply an architectural element of design.

Well thank you all for reading this long awaited update. I will try to post more often. Happy gardening and have a great weekend!