Thursday, June 10, 2010

Eucomis , Pineapple Lily

Eucomis hybrid, Pineapple Lily

 There are about ten species of Pineapple Lily native to South Africa. and the most popular in recent years have been the hybrids with the dark coloured leaves and mauve flowers. I have the one pictured above in a pot and at the moment it is sending up a rosette of new leaves which have that wonderful dark chocolate colour. This week I received a bulb catalogue from Bryan H Tonkin in Victoria which featured the punctata species hybrids which have been developed in New Zealand .They have exceptionally large flowers which are sweetly scented.
The down side of growing them is that the flowers may flop as they are top heavy and towards the end of their summer flowering period, a clump of this bulb can look fairly bedraggled with a mass of limp leaves and fallen flowers. Overall however, they are very hardy and require minimal watering and are happy in a tough spot with a bit of shade.


1 comment:

  1. Oh yes, this is a beauty I would love to grow. Alas, no proper site for them. And they would require some thoughtful placement.
    Sorry to be lax about commenting. Traveling, then ill, then overwhelmed! But I love visiting here;~D

    ReplyDelete