bulbs

Narcissus 'Spoirot'

Playin’ Hoops in Winter

More of the winter-flowering hoop petticoat daffodils continue to open every week in the garden. Below is Narcissus ‘Spoirot’…an exceptional 1998 introduction, that originated at Tasmania’s Glenbrook Farm, as a cross of Narcissus bulbocodium var. conspicuus and N. cantabricus subs cantabricus var foliosus. It’s namesake is Agatha Christie’s detective extraordinare, Hercule Poirot. It was originally

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Strumming on a Strumaria

Flowering in the crevice garden in early November is the little-known South African bulb, Strumaria discifera ssp. bulbifera. These hail from the winter wet/dry summer region of the Western Cape, and have been right at home in the ground here since 2018. Okay, so it’s not as flashy as a tulip of daffodil, but to

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The Last Surprises

I posted photos earlier from our lycoris selection back in August, but the season extends through September and into October. Below are some of the later flowering varieties. With a selection of cultivars, you can easily have a lycoris in flower from early July until mid October. Lycoris ‘Tipping Point’ looks like the common Lycoris

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Have you caught Galanthophila?

Galanthophila, an obsession with snowdrops of the genus Galanthus, is spreading almost as fast as COVID did through both Europe and North America. While we love and value galanthus for their flowering in the winter garden, we’ve yet to take the plunge into full-fledged galanthophilia, which results in people sacrificing meals to have the latest

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Stunning bergia

Looking lovely in the garden today is the fall-flowering geophyte, Sternbergia sicula. This Mediterranean native is found in the wild growing on alkaline hilly sites. Some taxonomists list it as a subspecies of the more common Sternbergia lutea, but it seems consistently smaller. At JLBG, our plant thrives in the crevice garden. Hardiness is Zone

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Oh, Katherine!

I can’t imagine a summer garden without the South African woodland bulb, Scadoxus multiflorus ssp. katherine. This amazing bulb in the Amaryllis family, grows best in light, open shade, where it bursts forth sans foliage in late June. This clump is right outside our kitchen window, making it hard not to smile. Hardiness is Zone7b

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