I don’t think that fairy gardens are as popular now as they were a decade ago, at least on this side of the Atlantic. They are a variation of the ‘plate’ gardens some of us made as children and that sometimes still appear in the ‘young’ classes at flower shows. A decline in popularity may mean fewer containers of resin and plastic junk making the journey from China as Fairy gardens became less about small plants and more about ‘decorations’. If ever a plant was designed for a fairy garden it must surely be the rhodohypoxis.

Rhodohypoxis are small, rhizomatous, herbaceous plants that are often lumped with ‘bulbs’ but are not really bulbous. They are strange little things with short, grassy leaves, scarcely hairy, and a long succession of starry flowers that are odd because the ‘mouth’ of the flower is ‘closed’ with the stamens hidden. There are only a few species and R. baurii is the most common and they come from South Africa at high elevation in damp, rocky ground in summer-rainfall areas. Conditions are cool and relatively dry in winter and they die back to fleshy, overwintering buds and stolons after the leaves turn yellow and die back in autumn.

To see a pot in bloom in summer is to love them and to want them. The starry flowers are white, various pinks and as dark as crimson. But they are slightly challenging to please. They need a humus-rich, slightly acid soil that never dries out in summer. But they need to be kept drier in winter, though not bone dry. They are not reliably hardy and although they should survive a degree or two of frost they generally need some protection. Their diminutive size means they might get swamped in the open garden. I may be wrong but I imagine them, in habitat, rather as bog asphodel grows here, popping up among mosses and heathers in upland bogs.

So last year I took the plunge again and bought some rhodohypoxis hybrids and put them in some terracotta pans. These were one of the challenges for last year and another was some delosperma but the snails decided that these were just too tempting and they are no more. The rhodohypoxis, in contrast, did well and, as expected, flowered for months. In October they were moved under the eaves of the house and the plan was to bring them into the polytunnel for protection. But that never happened and they spent the winter there. The ‘overhang’ protected them from extreme frost and some of the winter rain. And in March they all started to sprout. Phew.

The four plants were in one pan and I carefully divided them and moved them into three pans. I used an acid compost mixed with some fine, composted bark. There was some variation in growing habit below ground but all were sending out white shoots from the central rootstock that would put couch grass to shame. It was satisfying to easily divide each plant into three or four plants without causing too much disturbance. I cut the centre of the clump with knife and carefully pulled them apart so as not to break the new rhizomes. And they are now romping away. I am hoping for a good display this summer.

Rhodohypoxis need a bright spot, in sun or part shade but must not get baked or allowed to dry out. Mine are in a spot that gets some shade but is east and south-facing, protected from afternoon sun and it suited them last summer. If I had good acid soil or a peat bed these would be worth a try outside, especially if they could be covered in a cloche in winter. I would love to hear how you grow them and what success you have had.

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