Garden Centre

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

The Lady Penelope of autumn colour

I didn’t bother to show you all my summer flowers, the vases and even buckets full of blooms, or to rhapsodise about the fragrances, colours and so on … why should I, when you doubtless had a thousand such experiences of your own?

But now autumn is here – and what is giving you those glorious moments now?

For me, it’s my nerines. This flower, also called the Guernsey Lily, and the Japanese Spider Lily is not fully FULLY hardy right across the UK, but it’s (a) dirt cheap to buy (b) worth the gamble – I mean, just look at it!

Those shocking pink flowers will bloom until early December, like a floral firework. They bloom as a cluster of flowers on a leafless stem. Each flower is trumpet-shaped, and the petals curl backward. N. bowdenii which you see here, is the hardiest or about thirty species and while some people say it’s faintly scented, I’ve got to say that mine aren’t – or not so that I’ve noticed, and I think, given my addiction to fragrance, I would have spotted any scent. The leaves develop after the flowers have emerged and start to die back in May. The clumps can be divided after flowering. In colder areas, it is best to apply a thick layer of dry mulch once the flowers have died off in winter to give them a bit of a ‘warm’ to get them through the chilly months.

All the books say that Nerine bowdenii is best grown in well-drained soil in a sunny, sheltered position – it thrives in beds, borders, rock gardens and containers, and right across my fairly exposed Sussex coastal garden.

Nerine bowdenii 'Alba' has white flowers flushed with pale pink – but I think it’s not quite as hardy (or nearly as spectacular) as its ‘Lady Penelope’ pink cousin.

Labels: autumn colour, nerine, winter colour

The All Seasons Gardener at 5:44 AM 0 Comments

---