Nurturing Nerines.

‘ Nerines , like some plants and many multitude , give no trouble provided that they are given on the button what they want’ . Peter Smithers .

I wrote an clause about nerines recently for the Suffolk Plant Heritage Journal and since then people keep peal me up to ask about their non - flowering nerines . This seems to be a fear of some blogging friends too . So this is a quick post about caring for these fabulous plants and crap sure you have plentitude of blooms to revel in the garden , in pots , a vase or the greenhouse .

First of all , if you need them in the garden make certain they arebowdeniihybrids . These get their leaves in summer before the flowers . Once the flowers form or presently afterwards , the leave die down and once the flowers pass away down the medulla oblongata will be dormant until spring . The bulbs are frost hardy down to – 15 degrees but having said that , the embryo blossom buds could be vulnerable to severe frost , so it is a full thought to mulch them if the wintertime is harsh . On the other hand if it is very wet rather than frosty , the mulch could rot and damage them . So watch out for that . I live in the comparatively soft East of England so I seldom bother with a mulch .

Nerine sarniensis

One crusade of flowering -failure could be light bulb planted too profoundly . They need their nose just protruding . They involve a sunny internet site , the base of a south face rampart is ideal and they are happy in a piteous soil as long as it is well drained . If you give them a atomic number 7 rich feed they will produce an copiousness of glossy leaves at the disbursal of flowers . If they are not flowering well give them a mellow potash provender in summer when they are build next twelvemonth ’s heyday bud . The other witching constituent is summer watering . Just because they like to be bake in the sun does n’t mean they can go without watering to initiate florescence . Once planted leave them alone , they resent disturbance . They probably wo n’t bloom the first year , they need time to root into their new home . Once they get going they should get better and better and they will spread out by off - sets and the clump will get bigger . If you desire to propagate them you could remove offset when the medulla are abeyant . If you corrupt nerines as wry incandescent lamp then plant them in a sight and establish them out once they have develop roots . you’re able to also seed the overweight seeds when they are fresh , they contain intellectual nourishment and water for the youthful works so do n’t let them dry out out . Sow them very shallowly in gritty soil . They take about 5 age to get to flowering size but you might produce something a turn unlike .

Any nerine which has leaves in wintertime rather than summer is asarniensishybrid and so not hardy . Efforts were made to crossbowdeniiwithsarniensisnerines in orderliness to get the gem like range of colours combined with lustiness . The resulting plants are beautiful but not necessarily ; in fact seldom , fearless . Nerine sarniensiscomes in a mountain chain of gorgeous colour and many bet as if they have been spray with shimmer scintillation . This scintillation is due to the crystalline structure of the petal and I have not pick up it in any other plant . evidently they take to be prevent in pots in the UK . All nerines reply well to pot civilization , they wish to be overcrowded .

Nerine sarniensis

Nerine sarniensis

Nerine sarniensisneeds to be kept reasonably dry when dormant in summer with just enough watering to stop the bulbs from shrivelling . In winter ideally they need temperatures of 8 C – 10C ) ( 46F-50F. ) Having said this , I keep mine just ice proof and I have n’t lost any yet .

The larger flower amarines are a recent introduction , they are a cross betweenAmaryllis belladonnaand nerines . The flowers are gorgeous . I haveAmarine belladiva‘Aphrodite ’ but there are several beautiful single available .

Amarine belladiva‘Aphrodite ’

Nerine bowdenii ‘Stefanie’

They need just the same fear asNerine bowdenii . When I say amaryllis I am not verbalize about the long neck plants you have in a mountain at Christmas , they are Hippeastrum puniceum and I do n’t know why people stay in bid them amaryllis . Amaryllis have large horn forge flowers and they are very erratic when it comes to unfolding so I would chose amarines any time in preference . I spoke to somebody who grewAmaryllisbelladonnacommercially as a cut flower and he say he was giving it up because they are so unreliable when it comes to blossoming . Perhaps they require more sun than we can allow in the UK .

Amaryllis belladonna

If you do n’t already , I do desire you will try growing some nerines or amarines ; you wo n’t rue it . What else can give you so much delight as we roll au revoir to summer ? If you have a greenhouse full of precious stone like this you ca n’t feel depressed . They should be offered on the national wellness .

28 Responses toNurturing Nerines.

It frustrates me that the bulbs are so hard to find here . I see them offer by mail order nurseries only occasionally and I ca n’t recall ever seeing them in my local garden centers . However , according to my westerly ( US ) garden guide , they should present no problem growing here , although in an domain like mine , placement in partial shade is recommended .

Oh thanks for all this valuable information Chloris . I had to smile at your basic quotation .

They ’re gorgeous , Chloris ! I have Lycoris squamigeras here , which have a like material body and blooming . They ’re so spectacular in the landscape . I did n’t realize Nerines were available in so many colors .

Nerine ‘Zeal Giant’