Most gardens are on the decline in August, scorched, if we are lucky, by hot July sun, with the autumn flowers holding back, waiting for September rain. Plants which have their peak of flowering in August are therefore especially valuable, and if they can also survive neglect, heat and drought, they are, to use a hackneyed garden phrase, indispensable.
Agapanthus is one such plant. The fleshy leaves and roots conserve water; the long-lasting flowers are not affected by heat or rain. The blue flower colour of all the species, though not perhaps the purest or brightest, is rare among garden flowers and combines well with restrained or garish colour schemes.
Agapanthus species and cultivated varieties fall into two groups; the evergreen and basically frost-tender and the deciduous and frost-hardy. The evergreen species,
A. praecox originates along the coast of the eastern Cape region of South Africa, where winter is mild and wet, and
A. africanus comes from mountains further west near Cape Town; these are the big varieties which have gone wild in islands such as Tresco and Madeira, and are so common in subtropical gardens. In places with frosty winters they need to be grown in pots and wheeled into a frost-free conservatory or orangery in winter, as the plants are greatly weakened if the leaves are killed. Apart from this they are ideal and handsome tub plants, flowering year after year with the minimum of attention, and little water except in spring. The white forms,
‘Albus’ or
var albiflorus are particularly handsome in a tub, as shown in our picture.
I have found that it works well to have the plant growing in a plastic tub which fits inside a decorative one. It makes the job of moving them much easier.
The deciduous species come from further north in the summer-rainfall area of South Africa, where, in the mountains, winters are dry and frosty. The wild species and varieties can be treated as normal herbaceous plants; in the wild they grow in rather wet places, often among bracken, but they are happy in an ordinary border in good sandy, chalky or peaty soil. They are ideal at the front, as the leaves are better in full sun, not overshadowed by other plants; there is always plenty of light between the tall bare stems, so they do not hide plants which are behind them.
These hardy
Agapanthus were hybridised in the 1950’s by The Hon. Lewis Palmer at Headbourne Worthy near Winchester, and are still known as
‘Headbourne Hybrids’. Since then numerous clones have been named; ‘
Lilliput’ is one of the smallest, with flowering stems only a foot or 30cm high; most have stems around 3 feet or 1m. Mostly have flowers around 2 in. or 5cm long with spreading petals from a tubular base, but in
A. inapertus the flowers are like narrow tubes all hanging down, on a tall, upright stem, which gives a distinct and quite different effect. At the other extreme is
A. campanulatus subsp. patens with petals curled back; this is also one of the hardiest and the best blues.
Agapanthus are normally bought in pots, and are really best bought in flower or from a reputable nursery where a flowering plant of the same clone can be seen. Named varieties are usually quite expensive; seedlings cheaper and easy to raise oneself, flowering in about 2 years from sowing. Potted plants in flower can be put straight into their final places--ideal for instant effect.
Nurseries with good range of Agapanthus
Pine Cottage Plants,
Pine Cottage, Fourways. Eggesford, Chulmleigh, Devon EX18 7QZ. This is the nursery of Dick Fulcher, one of the National Collection holders. Tel. 01769 580076.
Broadleigh Gardens, Bishops Hull, Taunton. Somerset TA4 1AE
Tel. 01823 286231 or
www.broadleighbulbs.co.uk.
Beth Chatto Gardens, Ltd., Elmstead Market, Colcheater, Essex CO7 7DB.
Plaxtol Nurseries, The Spoute, Plaxtol, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 0QR
Tel. 01732 810550 or
www.plaxtol-nurseries.co.uk
