Friday September 29th

Posted by Alistair on Friday, September 29th, 2006

Summer may now be over, although you would not think so with the temperatures we have been getting. It is bound to get colder soon, but even so there are flowering plants out there for every month of the year.

One more late flowering plant which I just spotted starting to open up in our garden today is Schizostylis or Kafir Lily. There are a number of varieties of this plant some flowering from September others as late as November.

An exceptionally beautiful one is Schizostylis coccinea ‘Mrs Hegarty’ named by Sir Frederick Moore, the Director of Glasnevin Botanic Garden, after the lady who discovered a chance pink seedling in her garden in County Galway in 1914. She was persuaded to show her plant at the RHS show in London in 1919. It was immediately successful and was given an Award of Merit.

Schizostylis coccinea ‘Mrs Hegarty’ has pale pink flowers and yellow anthers and is one of the earliest to flower.

Schizostylis Mrs Hegarty