Agapanthus other than blue
I have been surprised, and delighted, at how well the agapanthus have done in the garden. Although all planted in sun, the soil is often soggy in winter but they don’t seem to object too much. i even have two clumps of broadleaved, evergreen agapanthus (un-named) that has large heads of bloom and these are improving, producing more flowerheads each year. They still have a way to go to be crowd-stoppers but they will have four and five heads each this year. And this is despite the fact that the leaves are almost entirely killed by winter frosts.
So I have been adding more, mostly narrow-leaved, deciduous agapanthus. We had rare visitors at the weekend and I was reminded that I always say that there is no point planting agapanthus in any colour other than blue because that is the whole point of them! Lovely as they are, I can’t see why anyone would plant white agapanthus. Even if you are being all ‘designery’ and, say, plant around a formal pond with white hydrangeas, wispy stipa, white roses and lilies and the like, I can’t see that white agapanthus would look any better than blue. Ironically, I grew some agapanthus from seed and of the few that have reached maturity I see that the first to bloom is going to be white! That leaves me with a problem! But to add to my erratic plant selections, I have just bought another agapathus, and it is not blue either! (I ought to admit that I also planted ‘Twister’ which is blue and white – but that counts as blue).
With the hideous, rabidly commercial name of ‘Poppin’ Purple’, my new plant is definitely not blue but I was immediately drawn to it and it had to come home with me.
‘Poppin’ Purple’ (MP003) is apparently the world’s first evergreen, reblooming agapanthus. It was introduced in 2020 and was bred in South Africa by Andy De Wet and Quinton Bean. They are responsible for ‘Twister’ too so I imagine they have a stream of novelties in the pipeline. ‘Poppin’ Purple’ won ‘Best New Perennial’ at a Dutch trade show in 2020. It should grow to 60cm in bloom and in the USA is sold as ‘Ever Amethyst’. As well as having a long flowering period it is said to be resistant to crown rot – possibly more of interest to plant producers than gardeners.
The flower colour is a rather dusky purple and I think I will plant it with lemon yellow to show it off – I just have to decide what!
The Biking Gardener 
Oh my! We are presently discussing this issue at work. For as long as anyone can remember, all the agapanthus here have been blue, and may be a mix of various cultivars that were added over the years. We really do not know. I have been growing mine since I was a kid, but have not added any at work. However, I just acquired some of my white agapanthus that I grew in the early 1990s. They are the first white agapanthus ever in the landscapes here. Although I needed to move them in the summer, they happened to come along at just the right time, when I needed a bunch of white agapanthus for an all white landscape. Anyway, we are considering adding a single purple agapanthus somewhere else, but have not decided on a cultivar yet. We want it to be of the same form as those that are already here. I dislike purple, but this is not my garden. If we add a single purple specimen, someone in the future will have a colony of it to divide.
That was good timing then. I don’t know many other purples. This one is being promoted here.
There area actually a few cultivars, but most exhibit slightly distinct floral form. At least one is a completely different species, with pendulous florets. I suspect that most if not all of the purple cultivars are hybrids. I know of no others that rebloom.
I think there are purple shades in A. inapertus which has those dropping, tubular blooms. Maybe that was involved in the parentage.
Yes, but for some cultivars, the parentage is not mentioned.
Agapanthus is a weed here – blue or white only.
I can imagine that it could be a weed. Although I always think of it as something really special, my eyes were opened to its potential when I went to the Scilly Isles and saw it growing wild in the sand dunes. And here phormiums are a weed – along the coast.
A white agapanthus from Kilmurry Nursery, ‘Kilmurry White’ is excellent as a pot plant.