I have been considering what other South African plants I grow in the garden. Berkheya purpurea springs to mind. It's a member of the daisy family, producing spikes of fairly large, mauve, rayed flowers with dark centres, just finishing now. The leaves are a delight, grey and hairy with crimped edges like an old fashioned pie crust. They don't look particularly appetising, but when I first grew Berkheya in the middle of the long bed I had trouble with snail damage. Now I have them in the middle of some gravel, and molluscs don't bother them. The plants disappear entirely from sight in the winter, but perhaps keeping their dormant growth buds below ground level is partly how they survive the British winter, because they come back faithfully every year in the spring. According to Wikipedia they can be invasive outside their native habitat, but in coastal north east Essex they seed just the right amount, a new plant popping up here and there but not enough to cause a nuisance.
Crinum is another. I haven't had nearly as much success with Crinum as I have with Berkheya. It is a bulbous species, producing fat, strap shaped, mid green leaves from a huge pointed bulb, and, if you are lucky, stout stems topped with a cluster of big, funnel shaped, pink or white flowers that open in series over a period of time, rather than all at once. My plants, one pink and one alleged white, are both Crinum x powellii, a hybrid between C. bulbispermum and C. moorei.
Both started life in pots so that they could be taken into the greenhouse for the winter, since I was worried about their hardiness. For several years the pink one produced the grand total of one flower spike, apart from the year when it pushed the boat out and managed two. The alleged white has never flowered at all, so its true colour is anyone's guess. After several years of humping the pots in and out, I began to grudge giving so much valuable winter greenhouse space for so little return, and once I'd seen Crinum growing in the ground in other gardens that was it. The plants were turfed out to take their chances in the Italian garden. They lived, and indeed grew, though the alleged white still hasn't flowered. As of this moment the pink one has precisely one flower stem on it, though I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt, in case it decides to make another before the season is out.
Perhaps they are too dry. The clue might be in the name, since the common name of C. bulbispermum is hardy swamp lily, and according to that fount of botanical knowledge Wikipedia they are best grown in deep soil that receives and holds a lot of moisture during the growing season. Just to rub it in Wikipedia adds that they thrive in wet places. It doesn't have anything to say about the cultural requirements of C. moorei, but I have a nasty feeling that perhaps if I watered my Crinum in the spring and summer they might do more.
Crocosmia are native to the grasslands of southern and eastern Africa. I've had mixed success with those. The two that have done well here are 'Lucifer', a tall, splendid hybrid bred by Alan Bloom (of Blooms of Bressingham, he of the steam engines, and earrings when he hit seventy) and 'George Davison'. I don't know how much of South Africa is in their parentage, as against other bits of Africa. 'Lucifer' is an early flowerer by Crocosmia standards, ours being out now. It is tall, hitting three feet here, with dramatic, pleated leaves and deep red flowers. The bobbly seed heads are fun later on, and yield seed that comes true and germinates easily. I like 'Lucifer' a lot, though it does tent to flop out over the lawn. 'George Davison' is still in tight bud. It will flower at only half the height of 'Lucifer' in a clean, bright egg yolk yellow. My patch spreads steadily, but I haven't noticed any seedlings cropping up at a distance as I do with 'Lucifer'. I suspect George multiplies purely through his corms.
I have tried the delicious, tawny 'Emily Mckenzie' a couple of times, but she has resolutely died. Too cold? Too dry? I've had the bronze leaved 'Solfaterre' in two different places, clay and then sand, but it has never thrived, producing sad little leaves and few flowers. Too dry again? I haven't experimented further. I'm running out of space, and have become distracted by Alstoemeria, which are not South African but South American in origin. Another story.
No comments:
Post a Comment