Months ago I was trawling ebay searching for something unusual, something I hadn’t seen before.  Naturally I was looking in the garden and plant section and was quickly rewarded with an offering of yellow sparaxis bulbs.  Never having heard of yellow sparaxis I snapped them up without hesitation and planted them as soon as they arrived.  Now I’m pleased to report that they are indeed yellow!

This sparaxis is officially known as Sparaxis grandiflora ssp. acutiloba but let’s just stick to yellow sparaxis – it’s less to type! Mine have grown to about 50cm high and have been flowering for 2 weeks.  I think they’ve got another week or so in them before they’re finished.  Not a long laster I guess but definitely a very welcome site in winter when not much else is happening.  If you live in a colder climate than me I suspect it’s going to be a spring flowerer for you.

The flowers are almost solid yellow with the exception of some small black markings in the inner throat, as shown below.

All in all they are lovely cheerful flowers and a very undemanding bulb.  They’ve also opened my eyes to the other types of sparaxis that are around.  In fact I am anxiously waiting to see the flowers open on a type I bought (also on ebay) that’s promises to be purple.  Stay tuned!

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