About
Babiana stricta is a perennial that forms clumps and features upright, pleated leaves resembling swords. In spring, it produces fragrant flowers that can be violet-blue, purple, or yellow, occasionally highlighting a reddish center.
About the genus
Babiana consists of perennial plants that grow from corms. They feature upright, ribbed leaves that are narrowly lanceolate in shape. The plants produce spikes adorned with funnel-shaped flowers, which are frequently fragrant.
Growing conditions
- Sunlight
- Full sun
- Soil type
- Loam, Sand
- Soil pH
- Neutral
- Soil moisture
- Well-drained
- Aspect
- South-facing, West-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- UK hardiness
- H2
Plant details
- Plant type
- Conservatory Greenhouse, Bulbs
- Habit
- Bushy
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Height
- 0.1-0.5 metres
- Spread
- 0-0.1 metre
- Time to full height
- 1 year
- Native to
- S Africa
- Fragrance
- Flower
Care notes
- Cultivation
- Grow under glass from corms in autumn. Plant into peat-free John Innes No 2 compost and grow on in full light. Apply a weak, balanced liquid fertiliser every 3 weeks before flowering. Dry off as the leaves die down in summer. Corms can also be bought in spring for planting outside for a one off summer blooming, but after this, would need to be grown under glass and allowed to winter grow. Plant corms 15cm (6in) deep
- Pruning
- No pruning required
- Propagation
- Propagate by seed as soon as ripe in autumn in a temperature of 13°C-15°C (55°F-59°F). Remove offsets when the corms are dormant in autumn. Pot into equal parts peat-free, loam-based compost and sharp sand
- Pest resistance
- Glasshouse red spider mite may be a problem
- Disease resistance
- Generally disease-free