Romulea rosea

TPalmer (New Zealand): bulbs of Romulea rosea. They had literally taken over large chunks of the rock garden to the exclusion of nearly everything else. Great mats of dead brown foliage lay flat on the ground. Most of the spread has been by seed rather than offsets I think and early attention to dead heading would probably have kept them quite manageable. The soil at work is a light volcanic loam. At home we have quite heavy clay soil and I don't have a similar problem there, but then I'm also more careful about removing the seed heads. I have a pure white form at home which is very lovely. Naturalised in Australla

The genus

A genus of the iridaceae, superficially resembling Crocus with thin leaves and cupshaped flowers, numbering about 95 species. The principal centres of distribution are the winter rainfall area of South Africa (70 sp.) and the Mediterranean basin (10-20 sp.), with a small number of summer growing taxa occurring in eastern South Africa and the highland regions of East Africa. A number of wintergrowing species originating from inland mountainous areas will tolerate a several degrees of frost for short periods. A very promising genus for the mediterraneans gardens. All species multply well from seed.

Family :Iridaceae
Section :Spatalanthus (Roseae)
Native to :Afrique du Sud ( Cap Ouest)
Native climate :méditéranéen (humid winters)
Colour :Pink
Hardiness :good
Exposure :full sun
Storage organ :corm
Growth :winter grower
Flowering height :15-40 cm
Uses :Naturalising - In the ground - Containers or pot - Rockery

Growing cycle

	Jan				Feb				Mar				Apr				May				Jun				Jul				Aug				Sep				Oct				Nov				Dec
Planting
Growth
Flowering

Planting :August (sem. 4-4), September (sem. 1-4), October (sem. 1-3)

Growth :January (sem. 1-4), February (sem. 1-4), March (sem. 1-4), April (sem. 1-4), May (sem. 1-4), June (sem. 1-3), November (sem. 4-4), December (sem. 1-4)

Flowering :May (sem. 1-4), June (sem. 1-1)