South Africa

Little bulbous plant from the Drakensberg Mts in South Africa. This is a good rock garden subject in that it likes good drainage in the winter. When growing, keep it watered reasonably and it will bloom its tail off with loads of small reddish flowers. Mulch if bitter cold in winter. This is one of smallest species in the genus and the word "statuesque" will likely never be used in conjunction with Rhodohypoxis. This was simply descriptive and not in the least pejorative. Those little bulbs can be so sensitive about their size.

A superior red seedling that arose here and one that is a bit larger than the other large red selections we grow. It was fun to lay out a table of flowers of all the cultivars and our seedlings for comparative evaluation. It was quickly apparent that it is hard not to love red and might as well go big. Just add water, food and sun. The name refers to Anna Massena, Princess d'Esseling and Duchess of Rivoli of France. Her husband was a serious amateur ornithologist with 12,500 bird specimens including an unidentified hummingbird which he had collected along the west coast of North America. This was later named Calypte anna - Anna's Hummingbird. This is a favorite resident here all year and loves the winter flowers in our greenhouses during spates of freezing weather. The males are little emerald green Jack Russell's, flashing a conspicuous Rivoli Red throat patch.

Fantastic little plant from South Africa which used to be Aster natalensis but is now in the genus Felicia. We got this from a Scottish alpine nursery in Scotland and know of a rock gardener in northern Norway who raves about it. Tight clumps with blue flowers with a yellow button in June-July. Very hardy. First introduced to the US by Far Reaches Farm.

Yet another venerable member of the legion of incredible South African bulbs. This one likes it arid and with as little frost as can be managed, but it isn't uncommon to see them in pot culture among xeric specialists, just bring them indoors when they are in their winter dormancy. Incredibly uniquely textured leaves ridged and bumpy like some kind of exotic lizard in muted tones of purple-brown. The flowers provide quite the contrast to the dour prehistoric foliage, happy little candelabras of candy-floss pink!

A cracking plant originally collected in the Lydenburg District of Mpumalanga of South Africa and grown for years in the treasure house of Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden. This comes naturally from a fairly cold location and these plants have decent hardiness for an Agapanthus. Upright gray-green leaves lead the eye up and up to over 40" where the pale sky blue flower heads with large drooping individual florets are captivating. Not an easy plant to obtain here in the States.