Guide to growing garden plants - Crinum (Cape Lily)
Crinum is a half hardy bulb that is often grown as an annual by gardeners.
Crinum flowers in the late summer with lily like flowers of red, pink or white atop stems of 45 to 90cm in height.
Common names for members Crinum include Cape lily, bengal Lily, Crinum Lily, spider Lily and swamp lily.
Their beauty makes them ideal solitary plants.
How to grow Cape Lily - Crinum
Cape Lily and other lilies of the Crinum genus can be grown either from seed or bulbs. If growing from bulb then they should be planted at a depth of 20cm at the end of spring. If you plant from seed then you should use fresh seed as soon as it is ripe and plant at a depth of about 6mm. The plants should be spaced between 45cm (small species) to 80cm (large species) and grown in a sunny area of the garden. They like to grow in an humus rich moist soil that is well drained. if you first plan to grow cape (Crinum) lilies indoors first then again fresh seed should be used, it takes from one to three weeks to germinate lilies and it should ideally be done at a temperature of 15 to 20 degrees centigrade.
Caring for Cape lily and other Crinum species
Members of the Crinum family are not the easiest to look after, they should be fertilised about 3 times a year. The leaves and flowers should be cut off once they have died. If you live in a very cold area then the bulbs should be removed from the garden in the autumn, and stored indoors in a cool place. It may take as long as five years before you see flowers from your Crinum lilies.