Agapanthus plants are flowering here in Sydney at the moment, so now is as good a time as any to talk about them. I’m covering the whole genus as, from what I’ve read, there is ambiguity over the number of species, and then there are many cultivars too.

These herbaceous perennials are native to Southern Africa, possibly with ten species, but this is where there is debate, as some people think some of these are sub-species rather than species in their own right. The name Agapanthus comes from two Greek words ‘agape’ meaning love and ‘anthos’ meaning flower.

The basal leaves are linear and curved, potentially reaching 60cm long. They are arranged in two opposite rows. The leaves grow from a rhizome as do the thick white fleshy roots.

The flowers appear on a scape up to 2 metres tall, although I haven’t seen any that tall here in Sydney. In Sydney, agapanthus flowers in early summer. The flowers are tubular in shape, naturally having blue or purple flowers. Cultivars have colours that don’t appear in nature, including bi-coloured blue/ lavender, white and white flushed with pink as flowers mature. The flowers are followed by many seed heads.

While they do prefer moist, well-drained soil in full sun I have seen them happy enough in dry, compacted soil along with dappled or full shade. They are also happy in pots.

Propagation can be done by either division in spring or seed. Only sow seed after the soil has reached the at least 13 degrees Celsius and only use mature seeds. If you are in a frost prone areas, keep in a cold frame for your plants first winter. From seed, an agapanthus will take two or three years to flower. Most seedlings don’t come true, meaning they don’t look like their parents. To me, this is part of the fun of growing seeds so you can see what appears.

The usual suspects-slugs and snails- can be a problem. Viruses may be an issue too. To be honest, I’ve never seen any issues, but that doesn’t always mean much. If you keep your plants healthy then you will have little trouble.

To be honest, I can’t give you much advice on caring for them, apart from dead heading the flowers as they fade. In Sydney, this genus is just so happy you really don’t have to do much at all. They are tough and the show of flowers is always amazing, even if they look average for the rest of the year. I think they are a good plant to have around.