VALLOTA PURPUREA

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 15, 19 January 1933, Page 16

VALLOTA PURPUREA

4 SHOWY, SUMMER PLANT

Vallota purpurea is one of the most showy of the late summer flowering bulbous plants. Unlike the Belladonna lilies and nerines, vallotas are evergreen. -The present time is suitable'for planting the bulbs or dividing should they have become too crowded. It is not usual, nor for that matter is it wise, to "dry off the bulbs, as they do not naturally go to rest at this season. If the clumps of bulba are 'doing well and producing a good percentage of flower spikes it is not wise tolift them as they' resent root disturbance, usually doing best in the one position-for many years. :

Vallotas like well-worked sandy loam, and shoulckbe planted with the crown of the bulb only. jusf< beneath the. surface. For best results it is necessary, as with • nerines, that the bulbs. should be well ripened during the summer, and this ,'cannot.happen when.they are too deep .in the soil. The spikes of scarlet flowers-make a bright spot in the garden; which will always attract the eye of;-^visitors. Vallotas make excellent pot plants. They maybe potted up now, one' bulb to a 7-inoh pot, in good loamy soil which.should bo made firm round the bulb, but not too firm under-" ;:neath it, as they are apt to force themselves right out of the-pot if the soil is too solid below them. When grown in pots they do best if allowed to remain "Until quite pot-bound, when they should be shaken out, divided, and re-pptted. Liquid, manure should be supplied to those in pots from now until flowering !is finished. ■