This very stylish flower unfortunately grows on a rather unpreposessing and scruffy plant. You can see the new green leaves pushing through the mass of tatty old brown ones from last year.
You wouldn't think so, but this past Winter I actually removed a lot of dead leaves from it. The plant is officially evergreen, so it doesn't die down in the Winter and you have to remove the old leaves individually, which is a very laborious task. Fortunately, when they die they can be pulled out quite easily, whereas when they are still alive they are very difficult to remove without cutting them. They are sharp too - it is easy to cut your hand if you don't tug them out carefully.
Usually this plant produces about six or seven flower stalks, each of which has several small white flowers, which appear successively, with those at the tip opening first. This year I have so far only seen two flower stalks, but hopefully some more will appear soon.
I had had this plant for several years before I could identify it. Actually it was not me that identified it, but Laura who writes the blog called My House in Africa. Laura writes about lots of different things, including gardening, craftwork, knitting and crochet. If you haven't visited her blog yet you should perhaps have a look...
If you want more info on Libertia, try this from Chile Flora
Perhaps your mission in life should be to develop a giant one?
ReplyDeleteIt's unusual to see you blogging about flowers, Mark. Are they edible? Only joking. I haven't come across this plant before.
ReplyDeleteGlad you now know it's name. I had never heard of this plant, but see it is native to Chile.
ReplyDeleteLike Jo I was surprised to see a flowergain centre stage. You must be softening.
ReplyDeleteInteresting plant! Does it get multiple blooms at once?
ReplyDeleteAn unusual flower!
ReplyDelete