Bulbine

N Sterman TalkingPoints@PlantSoup.Com
Tue, 19 Sep 2006 08:09:24 PDT
We grow Bulbine frutescens as a groundcover here in Southern  
California.  I have two varieties (at least that is how they are  
referred to here), one is 1-2' tall with yellow flowers and the  
second a dwarf (only about 10" tall) with tangerine orange flowers.   
Both colonize by underground stems.  I have to whack them back every  
so often or those stems get really elongated and woody.

If you want more detailed information, I suggest you visit the  
website of San Marcos Growers, http://www.smgrowers.com/ and search for bulbine.

Just to give you an idea of how tough these plants are, the yellow  
ones I have came from a garden where a month before I visited, the  
gardener thinned hers out out and stashed the extras in a paper  
grocery bag.  When I asked about the ones still in the ground, she  
offered me the bag full.  It took me another month to plant them and  
they never missed a beat....

I also grow Bulbine latifolia (syn. natalensis) in a pot but that  
does not seem to spread and I don't know whether it has any  
underground storage structures. 
  


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