My Favourite Plants – February – Haemanthus and Scadoxus

This is the first in a new monthly series of My Favourite Plants. 

Each year I get quite excited come the end of January waiting for our Haemanthus coccineus and Scadoxus multiflorus ssp. katherinae to begin their flowering.  Both of these member of the Amaryllis  family are rather spectacular.   

Haemanthus coccineus (Blood Lily, Paintbrush Lily) 

Haemanthus coccineus new growth Feb 2010

 

 Rising out of their pots like planted lobster tails, these bulbs, like the Scadoxus come from southern Africa.  They are very drought tolerant, ours receive only the natural rainfall and you should avoid excess moisture getting into the bulbs as they may rot.  They are quite happy in full sunlight or semi-shaded areas. 

They grow either as single bulbs or as a clump.  At the end of summer the flowering will begin, each bulb pushing up a single flower.  En masse they are a wonderful and unusual sight.  Rarely will the leaves occur at the same time as flowering as the leaves begin once the flowers die back.  You will get two and very occasionally three leaves from each bulb.  The leaves are very large and a beautiful shade of green.  Once they begin yellowing off at the end of winter I slice them off as they look unsightly and they will attract hungry snails who absolutely love them.  They will set seed, but this is not always easy to grow.  Generally propagation is by division of the bulbs. 

For us, they are very easy to grow, either in pots or directly in the ground.  For cooler climates, I would recommend them to be kept in pots and under cover, they are not frost tolerant and do not like temperatures below 15°C. 

I haven’t got any photos of my own of this plant in flowers, but in a couple of weeks they shall all be up so I will post it in then. 

There are a number of Haemanthus, many of them are unavailable in New Zealand, some are very difficult to cultivate.  I am particularly desirous of  Haemanthus humilis and humilis hirsutus but I do not believe they are available in NZ.  I’d love to be wrong, if any one has any … 

Scadoxus multiflorus ssp. katherinae (Fireball Lily) 

Lush green foliage with a spectacular large orange/red globe of  flowers, this plant is a real stunner and attracts a lot of attention.  Once considered  part of the Haemanthus genus, this has been rectified due to a number of obvious differences.  This plant will grow in New Zealand very easily, either in a pot or planted in the ground.  It needs partial to full dry shade, if planted in full sun the leaves become too easily sun damaged.  The snails absolutely adore the new leaf growth so you must make sure to combat this or they will completely destroy the years display. The plant is dormant over winter and will die right back. 

The flowers head will be up to 30 centimetres in diameter and on a stalk up to a metre high.  They keep in a vase exceptionally well and look amazing in floral arrangements.  Although I often read that seed sets easily, that has not been our experience.  We have obtained seed in the past but  last year, we did not get any at all.    I believe that the plants are slower to flower when grown from seed as opposed to from division of the parent.  That is our experience anyway. 

Scadoxus multiflorus katherinae