A little burst of colour

I planted a number of nerines 18 months ago. I put them in the sunniest and driest place I could find, to the south of the recently planted cotoneaster hedge. I knew it would not be perfect because the hedge would eventually overshadow the plants. But the hedge offers shelter and does dry out the soil in summer. There were a few flowers last year, which I would expect because the bulbs were decent sizes. The test would be this autumn. If the site was satisfactory there should be at least as many blooms, though nerines do take a while to settle down and a lack of flowers a year after planting would not be disaster. But they have produced more flowers this year. In fact most are not nerines but xAmarines, a group of hybrids between Amaryllis belladonna and Nerine bowdenii. The point of the cross is to produce nerines with larger flowers with more substantial petals. All those I have seen are much more like nerines than amaryllis, which may actually be a good thing. Amaryllis belladonna tends to flower too late and and the foliage is too frost tender for it to be much use here, though I will eventually try, planting against the house wall.

Above is ‘Emmanuelle’, which seems vigorous and is a nice pastel colour. I think these hybrids were bred primarily to be grown as cut flowers so I hope, and assume, they will bloom readily.

‘Aphrodite’ is a much deeper pink and a bit like the common Nerine bowdenii on steroids. These xAmarines see to have flowered slightly earlier than the true nerines and the only one yet in bloom is ‘Vesta’ (below).

In most gardens around here nerines are in full flow – we are always a bit late in this garden.

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4 Comments on “A little burst of colour”

  1. Unknown's avatar
    Paddy Tobin
    October 17, 2021 at 9:12 am #

    Those are very pleasant colours, lighter by far than the more commonly planted N x bowdenii. Very attractive!

  2. Unknown's avatar
    Annabel
    October 17, 2021 at 11:21 am #

    I have a few classic pink nerines here, in pots.
    From your post I understand that they like a sunny position. Does that mean that they need that sunny position when in bloom or the rest of the year is sufficient? I usually have mine in a lovely south facing place all year but bring the pot to my north facing front door when they bloom. Would that affect them?

    • Unknown's avatar
      thebikinggardener
      October 17, 2021 at 1:06 pm #

      Because the nerines flower when virtually leafless there is no problem moving them where you like when they are in bloom – as long as they have sun when in leaf. I have a few greenhouse nerines and often bring them into the house when in flower.

  3. Unknown's avatar
    Annabel
    October 17, 2021 at 4:15 pm #

    Thank you!

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