Watsonia

WATSONIA

Watsonias occur across southern Africa. There are a range of colours and heights. They are usually treated as on the borderlines of hardiness, but they seem to be reasonably robust as long as they are planted fairly deeply. There are a large number of species, but in cultivation their identification is confused by the presence of a large number of hybrids.
Peter Goldblatt has written a great monograph on "The Genus Watsonia" (Annals of Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden, vol 19). Many of my plants do not key out as the correct species, but I have kept them under the name they arrived with, while I get them sorted out.
2007. During this year I have been keeping all the plants in pots very much wetter, treating them as bog plants, and it is making a big difference to their growth. A number of forms that had been quite miffy in pots are now burgeoning, and it is forcing me to rethink my approach to some of the South African Iridaceae (which is no bad thing).

Watsonia

Watsonia aletroides

Watsonia borbonica ssp ardernei 'Ardernes White'

Watsonia borbonica ssp borbonica

Watsonia 'Brick Red Hybrid'

Watsonia densiflora

Watsonia gladioloides

Watsonia humilis