Blue, Blue, Blue: Lily of the Nile Times Three

 

I'll be darned if there aren't three kinds of Agapanthus in my backyard: small, medium, and honker. At the Monrovia site, there are fifteen kinds.

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The one I'm calling "small" is probably Agapanthus africanus 'Peter Pan'. It's definitely dwarf. Drought tolerant for sure. The flowers are small and resemble the picture. The foliage is ten to twelve inches high but in a clump two feet in diameter. Individual leaves are narrow, about a quarter of an inch wide.

Above: Wilted "small" Agapanthus flower leaning against BP's iron Raven statuette. Evidence of these hot few days. In the background, "honker" Agapanthus transplant. One bulb, one bud. Not shabby.
 
Right: Some new buds on the "small" plant.

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The one I'll call "medium" is also very drought tolerant, almost certainly Agapanthus africanus 'Queen Anne'. The foliage grows in a taller clump, and individual leaves are larger, about one-half inch wide. Flowers are more numerous and showier. They appear in unison, unlike those on the "small" Agapanthus, which flowers in a longer, staggered way.

Left: "Queen Anne" yesterday and today. (Today it is strangely swamped with flies!?)

Two below: Same plant. I especially like the way the bud skin (sorry, there's got to be a better term!) hangs on for some time after the flowers begin to open. They appear white at first but soon turn blue.

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"Honker" is most like Monrovia's Agapanthus x 'Monmid', but mine are extremely drought tolerant. If I water them at all, I risk causing some kind of fungus or bacterial rot down in the lower stems and bulbs, so I almost never water these guys. They seem to love it. And I love them. Blue is definitely my favorite flower color, and these are WAY blue. They transplant well, so I'm starting them in new spots around the yard. The leaves are about an inch-and-a-half wide, and the clumps of foliage get really big. The one near the pond takes up about a cubic yard. The flower stalks are sometimes four feet tall!

Below: Lots of Agapanthus buds right now (left). Same variety flowering in 2009 (center) and then spent in 2009 (right).