The Globetrotter
  It’s everywhere. Agapanthus. In the temperate climate zone girdled around the globe, Agapanthus is omnipresent. It dresses municipal buildings, flags airports, lines motorways and is the definitive wallpaper plant from coast to temperate coast. Native to South Africa, the genus Agapanthus, the "Blouleile" Blue Lily, or using Linneaus’ nickname the "African Lily", has become a globetrotter that’s apparently able to tease out its fleshy rhizomes in any situation, except in bog. In fact its weedy temperament in some countries, has put it high on the official "wanted" (out) list.

Desperately desired
  In other places with less kindly climates, Agapanthus is desperately desired. Agapanthus is recognised as a sort of "hands-off" plant, with low low-maintenance. It’s pragmatic, practically pest-free, perennial and has poise throughout the year. In spring, sculptural stems the peduncles (or scapes) bolt out of bushels of strappy green foliage. Mid-summer the distinctly primeval-looking buds (one per scape) peel open to reveal umbels with decorative funnel flowers (depending on the variety up to 100 on one flower head). Blooms last days on end before degenerating into a completely different autumn look, with spiky balls and flat trinket-like pericarps. These seedpods dry and twist with the approach of the cold season into neat origami-forms studded with coal-black seeds. Agapanthus has that "winter interest".

Oh the variety!
  But it does not end there. Both the evergreen and deciduous varieties of Agapanthus have quite respectable greenery. Leaves can be very lush and up to a small hand-width wide, or thin and grass-like, and come in comprehensive range of green tones. Recent cultivars have variegated leaves. A perfect backdrop for the white or mauve or all hues of blue blooms that continue to delight gardeners and have drawn the attention of floristic artists. There’s variety in size too, from 10cm to 1.6m! No wonder Agapanthus is sort after in tougher growing climate zones. The pressure is on to come up with sub-zero survivors.

Wanted winter hardy Agapanthus
  Winter hardiness was always an issue. Three hundred years ago, when the first specimens of the evergreen Agapanthus africanus and A. praecox sailed into Europe from South Africa, few survived long outside English hothouses. While Agapanthus was revered (historical documents as early as 1679 mention Agapanthus, albeit under a different name ) the plant’s popularity was stumped by its propensity to turn up its toes in winter.

Loved in a pot
  Offspring from another of the species proved hardier, the deciduous A.compantulus inhabiting originally the 2000m mountain ranges of South Africa. Seed sent in the 1940’s from the Cape’s Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens to the Hon. Lewis Palmer of Headbourne Worthy, England, resulted in the now common Headbourne Hybrids that tolerate cold (to a certain point). These cultivars and their offspring positioned Agapanthus firmly in hardier zone gardening areas and renewed the interest in Agapanthus in pots, a practise favoured by the Edwardians who raced Agapanthus out of greenhouses plugging them in herbaceous borders to beautify ugly summer gaps. But modern pot lovers have long known the beauty of growing Agapanthus as a feature in a pot of its own, a trend enhanced by the ever increasing varieties of the plant available.

The game with the family name
  Behind the scenes another aspect of Agapanthus has been busying the experts. Nomenclature. First classified as a hyacinth, then put to bed with the amaryllis & daffodils, then transferred to the lily family, before being clumped with the alliums, only to be returned to the genus Amaryllidaceae. The plant cognoscenti fraternity have solved this confusion by allotting the genus Agapanthus a family name of its own. Agapanthus is now the sole member of the family Agapanthaceae. Oddly enough, in spite of its history, popularity and widespread use, there have been few recent Agapanthus studies and none of the groundbreaking works of Francis M. Leighton’s 1965 work that defined the 10 members and the various sub-varieties of this genus.

Mastering the blues
  In the field, breeders are busy too. Down-under the New Zealanders are going for the pink, the dwarf and new (yes) fragrant varieties. Some using genetic engineering to hurry the process along. Purists though, are manually crossing and re-crossing varieties. The aesthetes among them are homing in on the elusive of all: the perfect blue. Tastes vary, but a deep, deep blue Agapanthus is a stunner. The A. inapertus "Graskop" (with rather fewer, more-closed drooping flowers) is powerful viewing when grown in swathes. Two wonderful looking blue Agapanthus are "Nikki" (bred by Dick Fulcher holder of England’s National Collection of Agapanthus) and "Bressingham Blue". Both marvellous companions to complimentary orange and yellow summer plants like rudbeckia und heleniums. In the wings Dick Fulcher has a newer, bluer Agapanthus waiting for a name and an occasion for its début. There’s a lot going on round and about Agapanthus to keep a growing international audience in constant suspense.

More Agapanthus reading:

  • Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society
    "The Garden" Volume 125 Part 8 August 2000

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