African Iris
Dietes vegeta
Try Bulbina in a Hot, Sunny Area
Marie Harrison is a Master Gardener Volunteer with the University
of Florida IFAS Extension in Okaloosa County . She is a
member of the Board of Directors for the Florida Federation of
Garden Clubs, and an Accredited Flower Show Judge and
Floral Design Instructor. Her book, Gardening in the Coastal South,
is now available in local bookstores. Visit her website at
http://mariesgarden.com.
Sometimes gardeners are introduced to unfamiliar plants in interesting
ways. Often we run into them at
nurseries or garden centers and long to try them for ourselves.
More usually, though, we see them growing in
friends’ and neighbors’ yards.
My introduction to Bulbine ‘Hallmark’ took place when I visited
a gardening friend and neighbor. Often I walk
by her house to see what is growing, and I am never disappointed,
for she visits nurseries often and is not
afraid to try new things. Through her experiments I have been introduced
to many plants that I might have
otherwise never known.
One of the most recent introductions from her garden is Bulbine
frutescens. Sometimes called bulbinella and
several other common names, it is a succulent, evergreen perennial
groundcover. Fleshy green leaves similar to
onion leaf blades arise from the base. Plants spread by rhizomes
to create clumps. Small, six-petaled starshaped
orange or yellow flowers with fluffy yellow stamens bloom on stalks
held two or three feet above the
foliage in spring through summer. Fruit is a small, rounded capsule
containing black seeds which are easily
dispersed by the wind.
Bulbine prefers full sun but can tolerate some shade. Since it
is native to the desert grasslands of South Africa ,
it requires well-drained soil and is tolerant of very poor, dry
soil.
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