In the ground, spider plants bloom in the spring. The stalks usually have one or more babies at the tip, which may be single, double, or more, and flowers along the stalk. Without sufficient light inside, it may take a long time to see flowers, or stalks with just babies may appear. In a pot/inside, there doesn't seem to be any seasonal pattern to their behavior. Being pot/root-bound has nothing to do with it, though a convincing case could be made for some plants (that they will bloom more or better,) no plant would experience this condition in nature, and this is not the reputation for spider plant. When people say that, they are usually overwatering their plants to death, or the plants are simply in a very bad 'soil,' and if/when the poor things finally run out of room in the pot to harbor so much excess water, they can finally try to do what they would have done a long time ago anyway. But back to spiders, they bloom profusely when loose in the ground, letting them 'get there' this far south is a mistake, they are perennial, and will not stop taking over an area by 'walking' into a bigger circle via babies every year. The next year the babies make their own flowers and babies, and trying to walk through a patch of this stuff is tricky, the stolons stick up in an upside-down U-shape and trip people, just like a patch of that nasty Vinca garbage. (Ooops, turned into a rant, sorry. I'm sick of digging up my Mom's novelties! She can plant 'em, but she can't dig stuff up later when it does what I warned her about... And - LOL! I still have one in a pot, old habits die hard!)

roper2008 - I winter sowed A. 'Royal Carpet' & 'Rosie O'Day' both from commercial seed packs. I think I must have planted seedlings from each together since I got both purple flowers & white. They bloomed non-stop right up to Thanksgiving with zero care & zero water--it didn't rain here from June to October 23 except for a few drips from a T-storm in July and I only watered the perennials planted near them. After enjoying them the whole growing season, I'm going to plant LOTS more this time! I checked my notes--I WS alyssum on March 13, got first sprout March 27. First bloom on 6/14. They're buried under oak leaves at the moment but I won't be surprised if they self-seeded.

depends on what "bottled water" is. bottled water like dasani is a NO NO, it must not have any of the harsh mineral salts that normal water has. You have 3 options, R/O water from a R/O unit (I purchased a Nimbus WaterMaker Mini unit that fits any USA tap socket for $80.00) or Distilled water (must say distilled, albertons sell it, costco should to) or rain water. I would avise atleast a 40 watt flurecent bulb for your light, VFT's LOVE light, as long as the bulb is not incandesent which can burn them. It does not have to be a grow light, full spectrum bulbs just give more natural light which help the plants grow, verilux bulbs are only about $15.00 per bulb ( I buy off amazon) I have hardend off my plants, so they no longer have any humidity dome. They grow indoors on a shaded window sill with those 2 40 watt verilux bulbs hanging overhead on a timer in a light fixture. I used distilled water from albertons to begin, but this got to expensive with the purchase of my american pitcher plant outside, thus I found out about the affordable WaterMaker Mini R/O unit. I fill up my 2 gallon bottles and then clip the R/O unit off my tap and put it in the fridge until its needed next. I also foliar feed my plats with Epiphytes Delight that I purchased from californiacarnivores.com. I do this since they dont really get bugs indoors. They are honestly growing healtheir, stronger and better out of the humidity dome. You can read the topic here called "HARDENING CP's" to see how I did it (how it was suggested to me) I live in Salt Lake City, Utah. My plants are in the basement which has a day temp of between 60-70 F, with the furnace running you can imagine how low the humidy is. Hope this helps, you are welcome to ask questions here or by email at: necro1234 at yahoo dot com Cheers Sheldon

That's funny, ngraham. Trish, I agree with Debra and ngraham. I planted 5 Stargazer lilies two years ago, three in one spot (two came up) and two in a totally different spot (only one came up and it really struggled). I gave my Mom 10 and 9 came up. Mine didn't do too much the first year, but I did get a bloom off two of them. Hers did okay, but had a setback when the bunnies decided they'd make a good mid-morning snack. My Mom's look great this year and are about 18" high. Two of mine are also 18" high, but the one that struggled last year is only about 4" high. It is planted in a totally different area of the yard, but still gets full sun. I think the soil is just different. I did purchase some other lilies two weeks ago, planted them, and am already seeing little green tops poking through. I would definitely try what the others are suggesting and dig around to see what's going on. Vickie