Nerine

For the garden Nerine bowdenii is the key species: with a mulch layer it tolerates frosts down to about minus fifteen degrees and flowers in the same spot for years. The more tender Nerine sarniensis, the so-called Guernsey lily, with its almost metallic, glittering blooms, remains a container and greenhouse plant.

The nerine works to a reversed rhythm: the flower appears in autumn on a bare stem, and the strap-shaped foliage follows afterwards or stands in spring. If you see an apparently empty patch in the border in summer, do not dig there — the bulbs are only resting.

When planting, the rule is sunny, warm and absolutely free-draining. The bulbs sit so shallowly that the neck still shows above the soil, ideally against a sheltered south-facing wall. Winter waterlogging is the most common reason nerines fail — lighten heavy soils with sand or grit beforehand.

Nerines flower best when left alone. The clumps may grow densely together and should be divided as rarely as possible; after transplanting they often skip flowering for a year or two. A classic beginner mistake is well-meant repotting into ever larger containers.

In a container the nerine is a rewarding late-summer terrace plant. It likes a snug pot, gets water and some potassium-rich feed while the leaves are growing, and overwinters bright and frost-free or stored dry. Cut umbels, by the way, last remarkably long in the vase — one reason nerine is also traded as a cut flower at the auction.