African Spear - Sansevieria Cylindrica

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A fellow-member of the Arizona Palm and Cycad Association was kind enough to give me a new plant for The Tropical Paradise. The common name is African Spear, the Sansevieria Cylindrica.

After doing a bit of research on what it likes, which is sandy soil and mostly neglect, I have found what I consider the perfect place for it. One of the biggest problems people have with planting something like this is that gets placed too close to where people walk. It's not particularly sharp, but it is pointy, and like all plants of this type, it looks best when it has room to grow. This is planted at least four feet away from where anyone will walk, and it's in a dry, sandy area of The Tropical Paradise. I have high hopes for it!

By the way, the bulbs growing to the right of it are Sparaxis, which I got from Easy to Grow Bulbs. They call it their "the big party mix". Below them is some alyssum, which I grew from seed this year. It has surprisingly large leaves for alyssum! On the left edge of the photo is Cape Honeysuckle, which will be blooming all winter, and the palm tree is a new cross of Phoenix rupicola and Phoenix reclinata, which was created by a grower here in Phoenix, which seems appropriate.

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