Did you know that Sansevieria can flower? Now reclassified into the Dracaena genus, Snake Plants or Mother-in-Law's tongue, do in fact flower! Although it is much less common indoors, I've been fortunate enough to experience it and document it with photos. I'll take you through my experience, and also discuss why Sansevieria flowers occur and when these plants bloom.
Would you like to save this post?
Enter your email, and I will send this link straight to you!
I have several snake plants but the only one that has flowered for me has been my Dracaena trifasciata (previously known as Sansevieria trifasciata).
HOW TO GET SANSEVIERIA FLOWERS
I can't guarantee that yours will flower too, but I will discuss my experiences and with a little luck, maybe yours can too!
In general, the only thing that can make a plant bloom is having enough light. These plants are often abused and placed in dark corners which is probably why most of them don't bloom. This is #1!
Secondly, once you can provide enough light (which includes direct sun indoors), a little bit of neglect can go a long way.
Many plants will bloom when they are mildly stressed, including allowing your potting mix to dry out completely in between watering, and keeping your plant somewhat pot-bound.
Now let me get into some timing issues and show you some photos of my own plant.
This is when I first noticed a flower stalk starting to form.
About 11 days later, this is how the plant looked. It ended up growing two flower stalks and they grew fairly rapidly.
About a week later, they continued to grow. You can see that the plant is getting some direct sun in this large, eastern exposure window. The photo below was taken at the very end of June (early summer for where I live).
About a month from when I first noticed a small flower spike forming, the first flowers opened at the base of the flower stalk.
After the first flowers started to open, they continued to open over the next two weeks or so.
Here are some other observations I made:
The flowers have a fragrance at night. I've heard some people tell me that they love the fragrance, but I found it to have a grassy scent which didn't quite appeal to me! It didn't offend me, but I wouldn't write home about it.
The flowers will also produce a sticky nectar so if yours blooms, be careful of your surrounding areas.
There has been some debate over whether Sansevieria plants (now Dracaena) are monocarpic or not. Monocarpic means that the plant will die after blooming. According to a past chairman and editor of the International Sansevieria Society (ISS), they are not monocarpic in the traditional sense. After flowering, individual growths will not grow anymore leaves.
The ISS also states that after a few years, that rosette of leaves that flowered may die off, but it will not happen immediately. Offsets will continue to be produced so the plant will keep on growing. (I've since placed the plant into a bigger pot and 3 years later, none of the leaves have died so this seems to be in line with what the ISS stated.). I'd be curious to see if that rosette eventually dies off.
I occasionally did fertilize my plant, but most of the time I took it to the sink, gave it a thorough watering with plain tap water, and placed it back by the window. Remember that fertilizer will NOT make a plant bloom. Only having enough light can do that (and sometimes in combination with mildly stressing your plant). Fertilizer will only enhance your floral show.
It's funny how sometimes people will react by saying "oh your plant must be stressed" as if wishing ill-will on my plant. Ha! Just because a plant is stressed doesn't mean it's about to die (though in some cases this can be true!)
Stress-induced flowering can be caused by a number of reasons. The reason that the plant can produce flowers when stressed is so that it can proceed to produce seeds and continue to reproduce. It's basically a last ditch effort for the species to continue surviving.
My plant was (and is) very healthy, but there were a couple stress factors. Namely, being pot bound and kept pretty dry (even though these weren't life-threatening).
To summarize, I attribute blooming to 3 factors:
Having enough light in my Eastern facing window.
The plant was quite pot bound in a shallow pot.
The potting mix dried out completed in between watering and often went 1-3 weeks in between watering. It was also fertilized pretty sparingly.
That's all folks! Have you ever had your snake plant other mother-in-law's tongue plant bloom for you? Have you observed anything different from me? Did you enjoy the fragrance?
Obsessed with snake plants? Be sure not to miss my other blog posts on these remarkable plants:
My plant has three flower stalks! I bought this on clearance last year at our grocery store. We used to have a snake plant, for many years, but when we moved we didn’t have as much room in our new house (it never flowered). I’ve found spaces for more plants, some under our skylights and some in our east facing sunroom. I was so excited to see these flowers because I’ve heard these plants flower very rarely. The blooms have not come out yet but I’m really looking forward to it. I’m in the Niagara region in southern Ontario.
I could not tell you how long I’ve had my Snake plant; it’s been years. It’s in a 7x7” pot, so you can say it’s root bound. This past year it’s taken on extra growth. The widest part of area with its stalks is 13” & the tallest stalk is 54”! It sits in a southwest area of my room with lots of indirect sunlight in the Summer. We live in a zone 4, Northwest part of MT. On June 10, 2022 I noticed it was producing a growth I’d never seen before. A stem like with nodes. I googled it & found that snake plants can produce flowers. I was pleasantly surprised!! I’ve never heard or seen that before. About 15 days later the stem is taller & has actual honeysuckle like flowers! If it is in a stress mode, like I’ve been reading, then I guess I will be transplanting it to a larger pot after the bloom dies off.
After owning it for 4 years, my snake plant is producing 3 chutes that look like they will produce blooms. The plant sits outside in bright indirect light for 8 months of the year and is placed inside a large window (same area as it is outside) for 4 cooler months (zone 8b in AZ). Generally, this plant receives 1-2 cups of water per week. I am looking forward to the flowers; however, I might miss the action as I will be gone for the next month.
I’ve kept snake plants for a couple decades and always thought the bloom was a weed. I keep it outside in the summer. Thank you so much for setting me straight on that!! I now have 2 blooms and am excited at the prospect of flowers
Mine has two stalks covered in buds and nectar drops. This comes after noticing a month of unexpected, new vertical shriveling/wrinkling in several leaves. I always let it dry out between watering, water every few weeks, have it in an east facing room with mostly windows, and have had it in the same spacious pot for over 3 years. I do cut leaves from it occasionally when they grow sideways in our walking path. I root those in water to get new plants. Any suggestion for the cause of recent vertical shriveling?
Hi Twan! Did you perhaps let the soil stay dry longer than normal? Letting them dry out is perfectly fine, but even these plants, when they stay dry for too long, will dehydrate. Let me know if this resonates with you...otherwise it may be due to another issue, and at that point, I would need to see a photo to further help.
I came across this article looking for something else and just have to comment. I started a snake plant from a cutting at the Como Conservtory in St. Paul, MN in the mid '70's. They had propigation classes for kids back then. In the late '80s it bloomed, several times over the next years! Most of my plant friends did not believe me and digital pictures and the internet were not around. Fast forward, the plant died about 10 years later when my house was robbbed on a New Years Eve. All the doors were left standing open, we were out of town and all my beloved plants and goldfish froze to death! Your article brought the memory back of the unbelief that these plants bloom. The blossoms reminded me of celery curls and I seem to recall the scent being heavy sweet if that makes sense. What a treat!
Hi Charlene, thanks for sharing your story! Even given the unfortunate circumstances, I'm glad it brought back some memories for you :-). And how wonderful to have propagation classes for kids! I wonder if such a thing exists anywhere today... Thanks again for sharing.
Mine has bloomed two years in a row, usually in late summer. This year, weirdly, even though the flower stalks are dried out now, there are still droplets of nectar along them! I think this is very strange. As I've read that blooming may be due to stress, I'm planning on repotting the crowded guy into a larger living space, even if it means no more blooms for a while. But the nectar droplets - why now, I wonder, and how, without flowers???
Hi Sophie! Wow, that's very interesting! One of my plants only bloomed once, and after it was done, I just cut the entire flower stalk off. That's interesting that yours produced nectar without any flowers present. It was still a treat to see it bloom indoors! Good luck with your plant 🙂
Hi, Raffaele -- I'm sorry, I was not clear. I believe my plant did produce nectar when it was blooming, but the nectar never evaporated, so even though the flowers dried up, the nectar droplets stayed. I tasted some, it's very sweet!
Can’t believe that mine is blooming in the early stages. I had no idea that they could do this! I’m very excited! I’d send you a photo but it is exactly the same as yours. I’d say that mine is stressed. It’s an old plant on a balcony in all weathers and thrives on neglect. Not only is it flowering but it has lots of new leaves popping up as well! It’s spring here now. Antonia in New Zealand.
It is October 22nd and my snake plant is growing bloom spikes. I have had the plant 20 years and this is a first. It is definitely root bound, outside and dry, wa-la. Thanks for the info.
Mine is a generational plant. My mother said it would only bloom at someone's death. It didn't bloom for me for 7 years. Now it blooms at least once a year. It is blooming now. I think mine blooms now because I started watering my plants with leftover veggie water
@Barbie,
I’ve heard about that technique-watering with vegetable water. I keep forgetting not to send that water down the drain, lol. Can you keep the water for some time before watering? I wouldn’t want mouldy water.
Hi
My Senseviera ‘s leaves started to go brown and I had to cut a few of them.
One came out from the root, although I water it every 3 weeks, it was very wet and mooshy,
Would you advise how to help it
Hi Sophia! I'll need more details. They definitely need to dry out pretty well in between watering. Does your pot have a drainage hole? Or is it perhaps slipped in another pot that has no drainage hole? Was it maybe sitting in water in a saucer? What are your growing conditions?
Yes, but place it in the shade outside otherwise if you don't acclimate it, it may burn. They can take sun, but you have to slowly acclimate them. You can always place it in the shade somewhere outside while it blooms, or just cut it off if you don't care about the flowers 🙂
I am so sad, no, I’m pissed. Mine (a 15+ year old plant) is suddenly sending out bloom shoots, but I’m leaving next week for 5 weeks… I’ll miss the whole experience. Can’t believe my “luck”.
I had been watching for a cylindrical snake plant & found a little 4” potted one at the local Canadian Tire store in Leduc, Alberta. Brought it home to my shop & repotted it into a 6” pot and placed on my North facing counter which gets a bit of morning sun each day. This is next to my desk so I talked to it daily, lol.
Next thing I knew it grew 1 long towering spike from the center very quickly, which flowered and had a sticky serum bubbling out. The flowers were identical to yours above and fell around the little pot, making a sticky mess. I thought the little plant was happy to be saved, lol, and the flowers lasted about two weeks and then was left with the tall skinny spike.
I had to move it away from the window to make room for some Spider plants that I had rooted in water and was transferring to soil so placed it about 12 ft from the window, with a bunch of assorted plants under fluorescent lights. Watered once a week and didn’t pay much attention as it seemed to be doing fine.
One day a couple of months later I was rearranging plants again and when I moved it down to eye sight level was delighted to find it had 2 new “pups” growing up on either side !! So I moved it to where it now has diffused light and the pups are growing well. Can’t wait till I can re-transplant and hopefully grow more of them. This is my very 1st cylindrical snake plant, I’m thankful that I found your blog and have been reading they all your posts or snake plants, thank you.
I startey snake plant from a leaf cutting. I let it grow for a summer in the garden until winter. I brought it in before winter and stuck it back outside in the hot weather, watering it every so often. After about two years it had one flower stalk. The next year I repoted it. And the next ( this year) it bloomed (7 stalks). I'll report it again next year. It seams to double in size every year.
Mine is currently blooming. I do like the fragrance. It too is fairly pot bound (when I purchased it perhaps a year ago it was very pot bound.) I transplanted it into a larger but still snug pot. It is in a northern window in a medium bright location. It dries out fairly often. I was really exiting see it bloom, I have never had one bloom before.
My plant has three flower stalks! I bought this on clearance last year at our grocery store. We used to have a snake plant, for many years, but when we moved we didn’t have as much room in our new house (it never flowered). I’ve found spaces for more plants, some under our skylights and some in our east facing sunroom. I was so excited to see these flowers because I’ve heard these plants flower very rarely. The blooms have not come out yet but I’m really looking forward to it. I’m in the Niagara region in southern Ontario.
It's definitely a treat when they flower!
I could not tell you how long I’ve had my Snake plant; it’s been years. It’s in a 7x7” pot, so you can say it’s root bound. This past year it’s taken on extra growth. The widest part of area with its stalks is 13” & the tallest stalk is 54”! It sits in a southwest area of my room with lots of indirect sunlight in the Summer. We live in a zone 4, Northwest part of MT. On June 10, 2022 I noticed it was producing a growth I’d never seen before. A stem like with nodes. I googled it & found that snake plants can produce flowers. I was pleasantly surprised!! I’ve never heard or seen that before. About 15 days later the stem is taller & has actual honeysuckle like flowers! If it is in a stress mode, like I’ve been reading, then I guess I will be transplanting it to a larger pot after the bloom dies off.
I would love to share a couple photos if I could.
Happy growing ya all!
It's always a pleasant surprise when they bloom! Enjoy your plant! 🙂
After owning it for 4 years, my snake plant is producing 3 chutes that look like they will produce blooms. The plant sits outside in bright indirect light for 8 months of the year and is placed inside a large window (same area as it is outside) for 4 cooler months (zone 8b in AZ). Generally, this plant receives 1-2 cups of water per week. I am looking forward to the flowers; however, I might miss the action as I will be gone for the next month.
Ahhh...can someone take photos for you while you're gone? 🙂
I’ve kept snake plants for a couple decades and always thought the bloom was a weed. I keep it outside in the summer. Thank you so much for setting me straight on that!! I now have 2 blooms and am excited at the prospect of flowers
You're very welcome Dawn!
Mine has two stalks covered in buds and nectar drops. This comes after noticing a month of unexpected, new vertical shriveling/wrinkling in several leaves. I always let it dry out between watering, water every few weeks, have it in an east facing room with mostly windows, and have had it in the same spacious pot for over 3 years. I do cut leaves from it occasionally when they grow sideways in our walking path. I root those in water to get new plants. Any suggestion for the cause of recent vertical shriveling?
Hi Twan! Did you perhaps let the soil stay dry longer than normal? Letting them dry out is perfectly fine, but even these plants, when they stay dry for too long, will dehydrate. Let me know if this resonates with you...otherwise it may be due to another issue, and at that point, I would need to see a photo to further help.
I came across this article looking for something else and just have to comment. I started a snake plant from a cutting at the Como Conservtory in St. Paul, MN in the mid '70's. They had propigation classes for kids back then. In the late '80s it bloomed, several times over the next years! Most of my plant friends did not believe me and digital pictures and the internet were not around. Fast forward, the plant died about 10 years later when my house was robbbed on a New Years Eve. All the doors were left standing open, we were out of town and all my beloved plants and goldfish froze to death! Your article brought the memory back of the unbelief that these plants bloom. The blossoms reminded me of celery curls and I seem to recall the scent being heavy sweet if that makes sense. What a treat!
Hi Charlene, thanks for sharing your story! Even given the unfortunate circumstances, I'm glad it brought back some memories for you :-). And how wonderful to have propagation classes for kids! I wonder if such a thing exists anywhere today... Thanks again for sharing.
Mine has bloomed two years in a row, usually in late summer. This year, weirdly, even though the flower stalks are dried out now, there are still droplets of nectar along them! I think this is very strange. As I've read that blooming may be due to stress, I'm planning on repotting the crowded guy into a larger living space, even if it means no more blooms for a while. But the nectar droplets - why now, I wonder, and how, without flowers???
Hi Sophie! Wow, that's very interesting! One of my plants only bloomed once, and after it was done, I just cut the entire flower stalk off. That's interesting that yours produced nectar without any flowers present. It was still a treat to see it bloom indoors! Good luck with your plant 🙂
@Raffaele,
Hi, Raffaele -- I'm sorry, I was not clear. I believe my plant did produce nectar when it was blooming, but the nectar never evaporated, so even though the flowers dried up, the nectar droplets stayed. I tasted some, it's very sweet!
Can’t believe that mine is blooming in the early stages. I had no idea that they could do this! I’m very excited! I’d send you a photo but it is exactly the same as yours. I’d say that mine is stressed. It’s an old plant on a balcony in all weathers and thrives on neglect. Not only is it flowering but it has lots of new leaves popping up as well! It’s spring here now. Antonia in New Zealand.
It's always a pleasant surprise to see flowers on those plants! 🙂
It is October 22nd and my snake plant is growing bloom spikes. I have had the plant 20 years and this is a first. It is definitely root bound, outside and dry, wa-la. Thanks for the info.
You're very welcome Pam! Enjoy the blooms!
Mine is a generational plant. My mother said it would only bloom at someone's death. It didn't bloom for me for 7 years. Now it blooms at least once a year. It is blooming now. I think mine blooms now because I started watering my plants with leftover veggie water
Whatever the reason, I'm sure it's delightful every time you see the flowers :-).
@Barbie,
I’ve heard about that technique-watering with vegetable water. I keep forgetting not to send that water down the drain, lol. Can you keep the water for some time before watering? I wouldn’t want mouldy water.
Hi
My Senseviera ‘s leaves started to go brown and I had to cut a few of them.
One came out from the root, although I water it every 3 weeks, it was very wet and mooshy,
Would you advise how to help it
Hi Sophia! I'll need more details. They definitely need to dry out pretty well in between watering. Does your pot have a drainage hole? Or is it perhaps slipped in another pot that has no drainage hole? Was it maybe sitting in water in a saucer? What are your growing conditions?
Currently blooming. East facing window like yours. Also watered sparingly. I do not like the scent at all. Makes me nauseous.
Some people love the scent, but I'm with you on this one. I find the smell a little weird! 🙂
@Raffaele,
I’m kind of worried about my plant blooming now as I’m very scent sensitive. I guess I can move it outside if it really bothers me.
Yes, but place it in the shade outside otherwise if you don't acclimate it, it may burn. They can take sun, but you have to slowly acclimate them. You can always place it in the shade somewhere outside while it blooms, or just cut it off if you don't care about the flowers 🙂
I am so sad, no, I’m pissed. Mine (a 15+ year old plant) is suddenly sending out bloom shoots, but I’m leaving next week for 5 weeks… I’ll miss the whole experience. Can’t believe my “luck”.
Oh no :-(. Will someone be there to at least take a picture of it for you?
I had been watching for a cylindrical snake plant & found a little 4” potted one at the local Canadian Tire store in Leduc, Alberta. Brought it home to my shop & repotted it into a 6” pot and placed on my North facing counter which gets a bit of morning sun each day. This is next to my desk so I talked to it daily, lol.
Next thing I knew it grew 1 long towering spike from the center very quickly, which flowered and had a sticky serum bubbling out. The flowers were identical to yours above and fell around the little pot, making a sticky mess. I thought the little plant was happy to be saved, lol, and the flowers lasted about two weeks and then was left with the tall skinny spike.
I had to move it away from the window to make room for some Spider plants that I had rooted in water and was transferring to soil so placed it about 12 ft from the window, with a bunch of assorted plants under fluorescent lights. Watered once a week and didn’t pay much attention as it seemed to be doing fine.
One day a couple of months later I was rearranging plants again and when I moved it down to eye sight level was delighted to find it had 2 new “pups” growing up on either side !! So I moved it to where it now has diffused light and the pups are growing well. Can’t wait till I can re-transplant and hopefully grow more of them. This is my very 1st cylindrical snake plant, I’m thankful that I found your blog and have been reading they all your posts or snake plants, thank you.
Hi Shauna! I'm glad you're enjoying my blog, and congrats on your flowers! It certainly is always a welcome surprise 🙂
@Shauna J,
I thought all snake plants were cylindrical. It’s all I’ve ever had or seen. I’ve learned something new about the plant.
I startey snake plant from a leaf cutting. I let it grow for a summer in the garden until winter. I brought it in before winter and stuck it back outside in the hot weather, watering it every so often. After about two years it had one flower stalk. The next year I repoted it. And the next ( this year) it bloomed (7 stalks). I'll report it again next year. It seams to double in size every year.
It sounds like one happy plant Doug!
Mine is currently blooming. I do like the fragrance. It too is fairly pot bound (when I purchased it perhaps a year ago it was very pot bound.) I transplanted it into a larger but still snug pot. It is in a northern window in a medium bright location. It dries out fairly often. I was really exiting see it bloom, I have never had one bloom before.
It's definitely an event to witness 🙂