Eucomis Bicolour - Pineapple Lily (Eucomis reichenbachii)

If you’re a follower you’ll know I have a weakness for a green flowers & a spotty stem, so you might not be surprised to find lots of Eucomis Bicolour bulbous perennials in my garden. I grew these ones from seeds I bought in 2022 from Thompson & Morgan. I love the purple-spotted stem that bears racemes of star shaped green flowers…but be mindful as with many of the beauties with a spotty stem, they don’t smell so beautiful, yep, they’re pollinated by flies, we’ll just leave it there & go back to the nicer things in life…

Yes, those beautiful star shaped green flowers are tepals edged with maroon. (A tepal is where there is no differentiation between the petals & sepals that go around the receptacle of a flower). These are topped with a rosette of bracts. Bracts are often different from the foliage leaves & flowers: they’re often a modified or specialised leaf to attract pollinators to the smaller flowers. (The most well known probably being the red Poinsettia bracts).

Anyway, I love growing perennials from seed, there is something extra special about growing bulbous perennials from seed. These do like the sun. They don’t like to dry out. I love the tropical vibes they give. Some say it’s half hardy, others say not fully hardy (ok to -6°C). I have them in tubs & borders, I do have very free draining soil & I have never had to take them in, but we haven’t had any extremely harsh winters of late & I’m by the coast so the salt air tends to keep the harshest of the frosts at bay.

Do you grow them? What do you think? I’d love to know…

@just.me.in.my.garden