Sandersonia aurantiaca — Christmas bells, Chinese lanterns

The fragileY-shaped tubers should be planted early to avoid drying out and to allow sufficient growth during the spring, before its flowering in June. Its tubers and growth resembles Gloriosa and Littonia, but its orange bell-shaped flowers are quite different, and are in great demand for cutflowers. As soon as the vegetation disappears in midsummer, the pots should be kept almost dry until spring arrives. In the open ground it must be very well drained soil. Although its normal flowering time is early summer, for commercial flower production the tubers are coolstored and planted at intervals to produce flowers all the year round in a glasshouse.