Supreme NERINES
These trumpet-shaped beauties will provide an essential splash of glamour to plots in late autumn
IN GREEK mythology there’s a group of beautiful sea nymphs known as the nereids who helped sailors in distress. They lived in a lavish palace at the bottom of the Aegean and were companions of Poseidon, god of the sea. In one ancient poem, they assisted Jason and the Argonauts after their ship was attacked by monsters.
Their exploits might not be well known today, but the nereids were familiar to William Herbert, a classical scholar and botanist.
In 1820 he was given the task of renaming some striking autumnflowering bulbs that had been plonked into the amaryllis family. He decided to call these plants nerine in honour of the nereids.
History doesn’t record how Herbert arrived at the full name, but I have a maritime-based theory. He would have probably heard the 17th Century legend of a ship sinking off Guernsey, whose cargo of orange-flowering bulbs drifted ashore, rooted and naturalised. Herbert dubbed this flower Nerine sarniensis (Sarnia was the Roman name for Guernsey).
Over the centuries, the plant became so closely associated with the Channel Island that it earned the common name of Guernsey lily. However, this glamorous, bulbous perennial, along with other nerines, are actually native to southern Africa, where they thrive in grassland, mountains and arid places.
AS FAR as I’m concerned, nerines are essential for adding a splash of glamour to gardens at the tail end of the year, producing a succession of stems carrying trumpet-shaped flowers in shades of white, pink, red and orange. Some flower as early as June and some as late as December, with most at their best between September and November.
Of course, it’s too late to plant bulbs now (you need to do that between April and June), but many nurseries offer a range of container-grown beauties in flower.
Now is also the perfect time to visit a great garden to see some in full flight – Exbury Gardens in the New Forest and RHS Garden Rosemoor in Devon have fine displays.
Botanists have discovered about 30 different species of nerine in the wild, but plant breeding by enthusiasts has seen the introduction of thousands of different varieties. Some of these are very rare and reside only in the hands of collectors, while about 150 are readily available to gardeners in the UK.
The tribe vary in their constitution, with some being completely hardy and others being more sensitive to the cold.
For example, Guernsey lily and its progeny can only withstand temperatures that drop to 0C. If you don’t live in an area where frosts are rare, grow in containers that can be displayed indoors.
Nerine bowdenii was discovered by the wonderfully named Athelstan Hall Cornish-Bowden in 1899 and produces 20in stems topped with candy pink flowers from September to early November. It’s capable of dealing with cold snaps down to -15C and has passed this trait on to its equally stunning offspring.
In my own garden, I grow x Amarine tubergenii, a hybrid between Nerine bowdenii and another autumn flowering bulb, Amaryllis belladonna. The plant looks like a nerine on steroids, with long, strap-shaped leaves and 3ft stalks that bear large, deep pink flowers. It will cope with temperatures as low as -10C.
Hardy nerines like being in a warm, sunny, sheltered spot with well-drained soil. They are often grown at the base of a south-facing wall or fence but are happy anywhere that they can be left to spread slowly. Plant in groups of three or more, spacing them about 6in apart. Make sure they are not too close to any vigorous, leafy plants that might crowd them out.
As for tender types, they are best raised in pots filled with a 50-50 mix of multi-purpose and John Innes No2 compost.
Display flowering plants on a sunny windowsill indoors and then move to a less prominent, frostfree place over winter.
Stand them in a sunny spot outdoors in late spring to encourage plants to form flower buds.