Harlequin Flower

Photo Credit: 

Allen Buchinski

Sparaxis are another South African bulb that deserve to be more widely planted in Mediterranean climates. Sparaxis have cheerful flowers and sword-shaped leaves. They come in an assortment of colors and look pretty spectacular in a mixed planting. Best of all, they don't need summer water, but will tolerate water if you irrigate.

Sparaxis is truly an easy plant that has few insect or disease problems and will naturalize without effort. The plants readily self sow. If you leave the leaves until the seed pods open, you'll have even more plants the next year. In fact, we sometimes need to pull some of the seedlings to keep them under control.

These plants go dormant after blooming. We wait until the leaves have lost most of their green color before snipping them off a couple inches of above ground. Other master gardeners wait for the leaves to go completely brown and then they simply pull off the dead leaves. It isn't necessary to do this, but we think getting rid of brown dormant leaves gives the summer garden a more lush look. 

Unfortunately, snails and slugs love these plants as much as we do. The leaves will generally show it unless you are good at keeping snails under control.