ANTHERICUM LILIAGO

Description

This is a vigorous herbaceous perennial some 60-80cm tall, which grows from slowly spreading, wiry, rhizomatous roots. It makes narrow leaves up to 40cm long (often less) which surround a spike of 6-12, purest white flowers.

The St Bernard’s Lily is native to dry pastures and hillsides in the Mediterranean basin, where it flowers in early summer. It is often a native of poor soils in the wild and it is both tough and tolerant in cultivation, asking only for good drainage and sunshine and moderate fertility.

It makes tight, tidy, well-mannered clumps, seldom more than 40cm across, but with time these clumps yield more and more flower stems and flowers in a succession from early summer onwards.

This is a plant with few troubles (apart from the usual suspects – slugs and snails which can strike anything, anywhere). Give it time to establish and it will charm you for many years