This central Asian species is a Juno iris, a category that grows from bulbs and has fleshy roots. Iris bucharica's great advantage is that each bulb produces up to six flowers. The flowers appear in spring, about two inches in diameter, either golden yellow or pure white, but sometimes white with a splash of yellow on the falls. Its deciduous, eight to sixteen inch leaves are glossy and the flowers grow in their upper axils. Should be grown in well drained, neutral or slightly alkaline soil in full sun. Once flowering is over, the bulbs should be fed with a high potash fertiliser. The bulbs should be planted four to six inches apart, at a depth twice their height.
Propagation: Sow seed in containers in a cold frame in autumn or spring. Separate bulb offsets from mid summer to early autumn and replant immediately. |
Trilliums have a reputation for being 'difficult', but their gorgeous, three petalled flowers make them such a desirable woodland plant. Trillium luteum has a yellow flower, rather than the more common white or purple. In fact, its bloom is golden yellow or bronze green, with elliptic petals as long as three and a half inches. The three lance shaped outer sepals are a soft green. The flower appears in spring. Should be grown in moist but well drained, humus rich, acid to neutral soil, in deep or dappled shade and mulched with leaf mould each autumn.
Propagation: Sow seed as soon as it is ripe in containers in a shaded cold frame. Divide rhizomes after flowering, making sure that each section has a growing point. |
With its refined but understated quality, this bulbous perennial from SE Europe looks best in a trough, small rock garden or alpine house where it won't be overshadowed by larger and more rapacious plants. It resembles a small bluebell and has slender stems, four to eight inches long, that carry loose racemes of half inch, bell shaped flowers in shades of blue from pale to dark. The flowers appear in spring above basal, linear, leaves that are four to twelve inches long in bright green. Its bulbs should be planted about two inches deep in autumn and grown in humus rich, well drained soil in full sun or dappled shade. Those with a penchant for white flowers might like to seek out its white form, B. a. 'Alba.'
Propagation: Sow seed in containers in a cold frame as soon as ripe. Divide clumps in summer. |
