Ixia

When I lived in Tasmania, my darling neighbours had an amazing garden. Cram-packed with beautiful flowers, deciduous trees, a veggie patch and an espaliered peach down the side of the house which kept them in stewed peaches all winter long! I could rant and rave about their garden for hours but I’ll save that for another time - today I’m expounding the prettiness of a flower that first caught my eye in their garden - Ixia.

They’re a spring bloomer with long strappy leaves and beautiful pretty star-shaped flowers that come in what I like to call ‘unicorn colours’ - kind of fluorescent pastels if you can picture that! And, in addition to the array of whites and purples and pinks and peaches and lemons they also come in a beautiful, clear, turquoise blue.

Earlier this year I came across them in a catalogue and saw that they’re actually from South Africa and have quite a wide temperature tolerance, taking anything from cool to sub-tropical climates. Result: “Add to Cart.”

Unfortunately the turquoise ones (Ixia viridiflora) were out of stock, but I made do with a multi-coloured pack of hybrid corms. Due to the chicken factor (they dig), I had to plant in a pot, which is a little harder to keep watered, but I seemingly did ok because I was rewarded with the same unicorn coloured blooms that I remembered!

Ixias don’t have much (any?) smell, but they attract plenty of pollinators and make great cut flowers. They like well drained soil in full sun and, like all bulb type flowers, the foliage should be allowed to brown and die off naturally as this gives the plant the most energy for next years display!