SAFLAX - African Lily - 50 seeds - Agapanthus orientalis

Worth knowing:

The African Lily originally comes from South Africa and is a very decorative plant in a tub. Out of its fir-green foliage, spring up to one meter tall stalks carrying more than 150 blossoms that look like round sparklers creating impressive spherical flower heads. The funnel-shaped blossoms don’t open up at the same time, so the bloom of a single stalk can take two to three weeks. That way the various inflorescences putting on a real spectacle over the summer months. The African Lily decorates feudal parks like Versailles for a long time. It is a rather carefree plant that is perfectly suited for your own garden, where its blossoming grows richer with every year.

Natural Location:

The natural habitat of the African Lily is in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland.

Cultivation:

The best time for seed propagation is from February to April or in the time from September until October. Spread the seeds on moist potting compost, put just a little compost earth on top and cover the seed container with clear film to prevent the earth from drying out. Don’t forget to make some holes in the clear film and take it every second or third day completely off for about 2 hours. That way you avoid mold formation on your potting compost. Place the seed container somewhere bright and warm with a temperature between 20°C and 25° Celsius and keep the earth moist, but not wet. Usually it takes five to seven weeks until germination - however, in some cases the last seedlings might take up to three months. Further multiplication can also be done through cutting of the rhizomes later on.

Place:

Your African Lily prefers sunny or full sunny places, but it can also bloom in half-shaded spots.

Care:

For a rich blossoming in the African Lily, the line “less is more” comes to mind. The less space the fleshy roots of the plant have in the pot, the more flowers it produces. So choose a smaller pot for cultivation and water plentiful, but in longer intervals – this is much better than consistent moisture which, might lead to rotting roots. From April until August you may give fluid fertilizer for tub plants, but not more than every two to four weeks. Too much fertilizing will lead to a stronger foliage of the plant and rather less flowers.

During the winter:

Ideally, the African Lily hibernates in a bright place with a temperature around 5° to 10 °Celsius. Water the plant only moderate so the earth doesn’t dry out. Wilted, yellow leaves can be cut off in spring.

Picture credits:

- © © Coeli - Public Domain - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/ - © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright - © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright - © Leesa Mckendrick - Pixabay - - © Richard Revel - Pixabay - - © Pitsch - Pixabay - - © Forest and Kim Starr - CC-BY-2.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 - © C T Johansson - CC-BY-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ - © Forest and Kim Starr - CC-BY-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/