Watsonia - Zizia

Watsonia
One of the great genera of the Iridaceae from southern Africa, with Gladiolus-like corms and leaves, and spikes of showy flowers in spring or summer. Hardiness varies: all these should be hardy in mild coastal gardens experiencing just a few degrees of frost at night. Most can take much more and are good doers across the south and west of Britain. Grow them in full sun, avoiding poor, dry soils. All make good pot subjects, and can be overwintered under glass in cold districts. Well grown clumps become congested after 3-5 years, and flower better if lifted and split up. Always handle them in late summer, after flowering and before root growth has got under way. All these priced £3.25 / £4.50 according to season.

W. aletroides has unique tubular flowers in a 2-sided spike, a delicate soft red in colour. Ours reaches around 40cm, though it can be taller.
W. angusta is an evergreen from wetter habitats with light orange flowers, reaching about 1m. Tough.

W. borbonica ardernei is tall (1m) and pretty hardy with large, open white flowers.

W. borbonica borbonica is similar, in a lovely clear pink, and seems slightly more tolerant of heavy, wet ground. It's great favourite of ours.

W. humilis with white flowers delicately flushed pink is short (25cm), early and free flowering: best in a pot or very mild well drained bed.

W. knysnana (silent k, y as in 'eye' - named for the town) is a lavendery pink in our form.

W. laccata is related to aletroides. Pink open faced flowers from smart 'varnished nails' bracts on slender 60cm stems: really lovely.

W. marginata pink, actinomorphic leaves,  summer dormant. Not the hardiest.
Watsonia brick red hybrid is a tough pillansii type, to 1.5m, a deeper, more sombre colour than 'Stanford Scarlet'.

W. pink hybrid is fantastic, despite the prosaic name. Very long, branched inflorescences of big, screeching pink flowers make it a real traffic stopper. Cold, wet winters may be fatal, so look after it!

W. 'Stanford Scarlet' (another tough pillansii hybrid) reaches 1.5m high in our heavy soil, with loud orange-scarlet flowers. Close inspection is rewarded by the beautifully contrasting indigo anthers.

W.'Tresco Dwarf Pink' is a charming, very floriferous and hardy shell pink variety, more compact at around 60cm.

Woodwardia fimbriata £3.50 /£4
This large evergreen Chain Fern from western North America may lack the grace of the Old World species, but it has a magnificent presence. For acidic or neutral soil, and proving hardy in colder parts of England.

Wulfenia x schwarzii £3.25 / £3.75
Related to Veronica, with 30cm spikes of deep blue flowers in spring, over clumps of rounded glossy green leaves. Sun, ordinary soil. I've no idea why this fine, easy plant is so rarely seen.

Ypsilandra thibetica £3.25 / £4
Belonging to the Melanthiaceae, and close to Heloniopsis, this is a distinctive woodland perennial forming clumps of leafy rosettes. The flowers, in spring, are in tight bunches, white in bud and when first open, ageing pink in fruit. Eminently growable, it will probably become more widely planted than any Heloniopsis in time.

Zizia aptera £3.25 / £3.75
The strongest yellow flower of any umbellifer we know. 50cm border perennial.