With Husband’s help, I lugged my snake plant outside in late May when the weather assured me it would be safe from winter’s death grip. My plant sits next to the front door, and its presence brightens my entry every time. How did it feel going from an indoor climate of a constant seventy degrees, though, to outside temperatures ranging from the high sixties to low nineties? I marvel at its robust health despite the fluctuations.
Soon, I notice a green shoot springing from my plant’s base. Then another. And a few more. Buds form on the new stalks.
“In the years we’ve had this thing,” I say to Husband, “I’ve never seen anything like it. Maybe it’s about to bloom.”
And so it does.
Vanilla and jasmine scents issue from the blossoms, and pride swells my chest. I must’ve done something right, I think, which is a fresh idea for me when contemplating plants.
I run some online searches to learn more about what my snake plant is doing. The flowering is extremely rare, I read. People try hard to coax the elusive flowers to come, but it’s often impossible. One must create the right environment for this to happen. As I read, I smile—until I go deeper.
If you want to get a snake plant to flower and bloom, one article says, it’s going to take some calculated neglect. The challenge is to create the right amount of stress without going overboard.
Stress? I feel a little sick now. I take no pleasure from hurting either flora or fauna. My poor plant, standing so faithfully (but under duress) at my front door while I selfishly go about my day content! How dare I? I learn more online. It could be root-bound, too warm or cold, or under-watered.
Now the flowers look like silent cries to me, and I don’t know what to do.
I think about stress, though. The internet brims with quotes about coal under pressure too. Flowers (at least my snake plant's) and diamonds—both painfully obtained.
Maybe there's a lesson in it for us all. No, of course there is.
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
If you have any good snake plant tips for me, I'm listening. But for now, I'll try to enjoy the flowers.
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