A gardener’s MISCELLANY
This week it’s:
Appraising agapanthus
Stories behind this native of South Africa
ON the roadsides and verges of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in midsummer, you’ll see agapanthus in all their flowering glory. In such milder parts of the country the plant has become naturalised and, in some places, it even grows like a weed. But what a weed!
Sadly, gardeners further north in the UK mistakenly consider these bold perennials to be ‘exotic’ and therefore unlikely to survive a British winter unless given protection. Not so! Yes – some will need mollycoddling, but with the onset of milder winters and new varieties bred for hardiness, the chance of success has never been better. Let’s take a look!
■ Agapanthus are known as the African lily, Blue African lily and Lily of the Nile.
Ever gorgeous and evergreen
BASICALLY, there are two types of agapanthus – the deciduous and the evergreen. Generally, the evergreen species are less hardy than the deciduous, so are best protected
