AGAPANTHUS. Lily-of-the-Nile. Showy South African perennials which form compact clumps from fleshy root-stocks. Their fountains of large, strap shaped leaves create a bold effect (sometimes too bold, depending on where they’re planted). Umbrella-like clusters of deep blue-violet to white, tubular or flaring blossoms atop leafless stalks decorate the plants in summer and fall. Sun or light shade, most soils, moderate to abundant watering. The following should be hardy to 15oF or less, though the foliage is damaged at around 20oF. I am not sure how we accumulated so many of them, but here they are.
inapertus. This is one of the winter deciduous Agapanthus, almost unknown in California but well worth growing. It has leaves as large and thick as those of the evergreen A. orientalis. In summer clusters of beautiful drooping, tubular blossoms, colored deep blue-violet, are carried on stalks up to 5’ tall.
‘Mood Indigo’. A hybrid involving A. inapertus, above, and like it, winter-deciduous. It has typical large, bright green leaves, 3-4’ stems, and nodding, tubular flowers of so deep a shade of violet that they can appear dull and brownish from a distance. At close range, they are quite lovely.
orientalis (praecox ssp. orientalis, umbellatus; often erroneously sold as africanus) is the agapanthus of the California nursery trade, as much used and abused as Pfitzer junipers. The following include six outstanding cultivars, quite distinct from most commercial material.
‘Baby Blue’. “Baby” may be a bit of an exaggeration, but this recent introduction is at least a dwarf. It has broad, rather pale leaves, stocky 18" stems and broad umbels of 1½” flowers. The flowers are colored bright lavender-blue overall, with a dark central band on each segment.
‘Dark Angel’. A vigorous clone with stems up to 4’ tall and large, very dark flowers. It was selected by Angel Guerzon.
‘Flore Pleno’. A large, sturdy plant, with heavy 3’ stalks and very large, full clusters of double flowers. The blossoms are deep lavender-blue in color.
‘Henryi’. A very pretty plant received some years ago from Monte Bello Nursery. It has narrow 8-12" leaves and slender 18" flower stalks bearing large umbels of pure white blossoms.
‘Tinker Bell’. Similar in size and profuseness of growth to the original `Peter Pan’. However, the leaves are broadly margined with creamy white. Our thanks to Sam Bryan.
‘Winterdwarf’. This was my response to hopeless confusion over `Peter Pan’, a name now applied to both seedling and clonal material, most of it many generations removed from the original. This is a tightly clumping selection with 6-10" leaves. It is exceptionally free blooming, with large, many flowered clusters of dark lavender-blue blossoms on sturdy 1’ stems.
‘Petite Blue’. This is the first agapanthus which has piqued my own interest in many years. It forms the usual dense clumps, but with unusually dark, narrow leaves, 8-12" high. The slender stems rise about 18", bearing short-stalked, short-tubed flowers which open widely. They are a deep purple-blue in color. Received from Malanseuns Pleasure Plants in South Africa.
‘Storm Cloud’. An inapertus hybrid from the Saratoga Horticultural Foundation. It has the typical sturdy leaves of inapertus, stems 4’ or more high, and large clusters of drooping deep blue-violet blossoms.