Bulbous plants

Bulbous plants

Bulbous plants are a group of perennial plants with an underground storage organ - a bulb or a tuber. Bulbous plants include around 170 genera from 13 families. The most numerous are the Amaryllidaceae and the Iridaceae.

In our collections, visitors can find approximately 1000 cultivated varieties of bulbous plants. The most popular representatives are undoubtedly our small spring bulbous plants, whose early flowers belong to the first harbingers of spring. Groups of crocuses (Crocus), winter aconites (Eranthis), squills (Scilla) and netted irises (Iris reticulata) are the first to bloom on the rocks in the Ornamental Garden. This colourful carpet is later enhanced by flowers of low narcissi (Narcissus), tulips (Tulipa), hyacinths (Hyacinthus) and bluebells (Muscari) in combination with rock plants and dwarf woody plants. Young grasses near the southern entrance are livened up each spring by striking flowers of fritillaries (Fritillaria) and Allium.

Taller flowerbed varieties of tulips, narcissi, hyacinths and alliums bloom in spring in the exposition of bulbous and tuberous plants in the Ornamental Garden. In this area, visitors can admire a large number of plants from the following South African genera: pineapple flowers (Eucomis), montbretia (Crocosmia) and Acidanthera. Together with lilies (Lilium) and gladioli (Gladiolus) they create a beautiful colourful effect in the summer months. As usual, autumn crocuses (Colchicum) planted in ten large groups along with irises (Iris), narcissi (Narcissus) and burnets (Sanguisorba) contribute to beautiful autumn colours of our botanical garden. Visitors can find all these in the damp area by the pond. 

The most valuable part of this collection is located in our facilities. It is the gene pool of common and rare wild species native to the Mediterranean and the Middle East (1000 taxa), as well as to South Africa and Central America (600 taxa). From these thermophilic bulbous plants, we chose the representatives of the Albuca, Ferraria, Lachenalia, Bulbine and Bowiea genera. They can be found in our new geographical exposition of Namaqualand and Little Karoo in the northern part of ??the garden.