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The real grandis

Dear Steve;
        Thanks for your response to my dumb note. I do wish I knew what my
S. grandis really is.
        I know it just isn't 'Mason Congo' I have grown it for years and
see a few others similar named and looking to be sure of it's ID.

        Obviously you don't recognize the name 'Robert Wagner' from the
world of Sans. Don't have a clue what movie star you are thinking of (JOKE
!). Bob Wagner ran a small succulent specialty 'Houseplants Unlimited' in
the small central Missouri town of Millersville. He had some fantastic old
specimens of EVERYTHING. We'd take trips from here in Kansas City to St
Louis just to have an excuse to stop. We'd always visit, sometimes I take
him a plant or two and he'd have a plant or two for me, but I spent enough
money there to keep me hopping.
        The Sans. 'Wagner's Gold' is from his place.
        Sadly, personal and financial circumstance forced him to close the
nursery and move away. I have not seen or heard from him in years and
wonder where he is now.  Now when we drive past the old nursery site
-visible from I-70 we just shed a tear in memorium for a fantastic
grenhouse and plantsman.
        Since he was quite authoritative in the world of Succulents and
Sansevieria were but one of his special interest I felt strongly that names
of his plants had special qualities including 'truth in advertising.  So a
Sans. grandis from Bob kept it's name.

        The plant itself is not very big -without going out and measuring
it right now-it is maybe 10 inches each leaf 2-3 inches wide with rather
anonymous mottling. Maybe 3-5 leaves per fan. The most distinctive thing is
its habit of pushing itself out of it's pot.
You wrote

>Several vigorous species such as Sans.hyacinthoides, Sans.aethiopica,
>Sans.subspicata, Sans.parva, etc. produce elongate stolons that will poke
>through drainage holes and even burst pots. That is why they need to be
>repotted at least every two years. They also make good candidates for
>growing in wire hanging baskets. Have you tried that?

I grow plants with all these names EXCEPT for S hyacinthoides.
        S. parva - a very different plant - I have grown in a basket since
day one and it makes long thin stolons for a yard and more below the
basket. When well grown it can be lush and lovely.
        S. spicata  makes different stolons -more horizontal and
dangerously spiked leaf tips. The stolons tends to grow up and out of the
pot -  not burst through.
        S. aethiopica doesn't make any stolons, but is good at pressing a
pot apart.

        To the Contrary...S, grandis has never grown out a pot hole, but
lifts the entire plant and soil mass striaght up out of the pot. The
stolons are short and thick. Even new plants coming out the bottom of the
basket (NEVER on the sides) remain very close to the basket-they don't
cascade donward.  These underside plants also have a habit of forming
horizontal leaves that 'cup' (to retain water?).
        As i said very distinctive.

        Iadmit an uneasiness about the name S. hyacinthoides- just sounds
so anonymous to me. I think this refers to a more upright plant - like a
narrower leaves 'Mason Congo' with a form closer to trifasciata. I also
grow S thrysiflora and my 'grandis' is NOT that.

        Still not sure

        AND YOU did not answer my question -"Do you grow both of these -
Any experience ?

        Not confused, but still 'in the dark'           Jim W.




James W. Waddick                        Voice: 816 746 1949
8871 NW Brostrom Rd                     E-MAIL: jim-jim@swbell.net
Kansas City MO 64152            Fax: 816 746 1939
Zone 5/6 -  Winter low  -10 degrees  F    Summer high +100 degrees F
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