Lachenalia bulbs

  

Lachenalia come in many colours like this one consisting of red, yellow, orange, purple and green.

One of my favorite bulbs is Lachenalia also know as the Cape cowslip. They belong to the Hyacinthaceae family and are deciduous perennials. They normally get one to several leaves but usually only two is seen. They flower in racemes or spikes. Flowers are more or less zygomorphic meaning its symmetrical when cut in half. Flowers are often described as nodding because their flowers are hanging. They come in many shapes, bell shaped, tubular shaped, cylindrical or urn shaped. They are variously coloured and often scented.

Flowers are often described as nodding.

Lachenalia viridiflora an endangered blue species.



Different flowers have different shapes and flower in recemes or spikes, in this case its flowering in a spike.

Most Lachenalia sp. are easy to grow and are often very attractive, making them well worth cultivating. Their small size combined with their variously coloured flowers make them ideal pot plants although mass plantings in the garden of some species look great in gardens, giving the garden a different look when it all flowers.




Lachenalia trichophylla is a great pot plant because of its hairy leaves and different growth.



These bulbs will bring colour and texture into any house and garden and are generally easy to grow.

Mass plantings in gardens will look lovely especially with bright yellow species.



This bulb is a beautiful low maintenance plant when they deciduous u forget about them and when they in flower they bring such beautiful colours back into the house and garden, its a must have for all bulb lovers.







Attracting bees and other friendly insects into your garden.

All of the pictures of these bulbs were taken at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens in the conservory and in the nurseries, being a temporary student in the gardens I have the advantage of seeing these beautiful plants being grown and get to take pictures through out the day. Lucky me!