Gardening: Uncommon beauty

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Photo courtesy of Anthony Tesselaar Plants

I once vowed I would never plant agapanthus in my garden. Too common, I said. Overused, I protested. Ubiquitous, I called them. Further, I don't really like blue flowers.

Then one day a neighbor showed up with some she'd dug out of her garden. I had no choice but to smile, thank her and plant them.

I still maintain they are ubiquitous, but I've discovered they are also tough, versatile, forgiving and beautiful. They stand up to our California summers when surrounded by acres of asphalt or miles of busy streets. You can give them plenty of water or hardly a drop, and still they thrive and bloom. They grow in heavy clay, loamy soil or sand. They come in a variety of sizes, from a mere 12 inches to over 6 feet tall in bloom. Hybridizers have gone beyond the common light blue and off-white selections and have produced plants with dark indigo as well as snowy white flowers.

I add more agapanthus to the garden every year, and have even come to love the light blue ones.

Agapanthus forms clumps that increase in size every year. It mixes well with other Mediterranean-climate plants such as barberry, canna lily, daylily, ornamental grasses, rudbeckia, santolina and more.

Also called Lily of the Nile and African Lily, the plant is native to South Africa. The name comes from the Greek "agape," meaning love, and "anthos," meaning flower. Dutch explorers brought them to Europe in the 17th century. Some are evergreen, while others die back in the winter. One variety, Storm Cloud, can be either deciduous or evergreen, depending on where you live.

I buy them in bloom at the nursery so I can see how big they are and what the flowers are like. In recent years, besides the common pale blue ones my neighbor fortuitously gave me, I have Queen Mum (huge white flowers), Snowstorm (small plants, pristine white flowers), Storm Cloud (deep blue flowers) and Mood Indigo.

Today's agapanthus varieties demand you take another look and see what a plant once relegated to shopping center parking strips and center medians can do for your garden.

Become a fan of blue.

Pat Rubin