Agapanthus ‘Storm Cloud’

August 24, 2010 at 10:19 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

Many people are familiar ith the common landscape plant known as Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus). It is almost a ubiquitous subject for the commercial landscape. However, there ahs been much hybridizing and selection to give us a wide range from which to choose. There are smaller and larger selections as well as various color forms, and even variegated leaf forms.
These plants are easy to grow, often drought tolerant in CA and are very showy in bloom. They bloom at the height of summer, big glorious heads of blooms that give the landcape cool blues and ivory whites.
Here is a favorite of mine, the dark flowered Storm Cloud. This cv. is very deep indigo blue and is large. Bold right in your face at eye level dramatic color! This is a very easy to grow(hard to kill) plant that blooms spectacularly in midsummer. If you want to make a dramatic floral or landscape statement, try this!
Clusters of bloom can grow up to 4 ft tall and have pendulous deep indigo blue flowers. The petals are very glossy and make the impact very showy and bright for such a deep color!
There are other dark forms now available, but to me this is the most spectacular and best yet. (Negrita and Mood Indigo are other deeper colored cvs.) Negrita is black purple, and Mood Indigo is deciduous so the leaves die down in winter.) Storm Cloud is evergreen unless you have a very cold winter. The clump grows large and a mature clump is a big attention getter. You can have over a dozen big tall clusters of bloom from a single mature plant. More if you water and fertilize it a bit.
Any well drained soil, full sun to partial shade and regular water is best for maximum growth and bloom, but the plant will bloom anyhow even if stressed by low water, almost drought(as long as there is enough moisture to produce those flower clusters in midsummer)
This is also an easy maintenance plant. You do trimming of the old flower stalks once a year, that’s it! Some people can remove faded dry leaves at the base of the clump, but they eventually turn into humus anyhow, no matter if you clean them or not.

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