I had just planted a few Gloriosa tubers from my Aunt C three weeks before, and I was mesmerised by its rate of growth.
It was like watching a video on a fast-forward mode; within a week, the nub on one of the tubers grew an amazing 30cm.
With each day, the spindly shoot grew taller, and within three short weeks of planting, I saw the first Gloriosa blossom.
The flower went through a spectrum of colours as it opened gradually; from a light apple green and pastel yellow, to a pale blush which gradually flamed into a hot, intense cerise.
The corollas of the Gloriosa Superba are reminiscent of orchids and, lilies; and their wavy, flaming reflexed petals resemble tongues of fire.
Now as the flaming flowers of the first tuber lie spent, a second dormant tuber is stirring and showing signs of life. I’m hoping that this lethargic tuber will put up a similarly brilliant show.
If you are keen to have a go at the flaming Gloriosa, do exercise a bit of caution. It wouldn’t pay to get your fingers burnt by what is listed as one of the most breathtaking but dangerous flowers in the world.
Care and propagation:
Semi-shade to full sun; garden soil, water moderately. Needs support. Propagate using tubers or seeds
Super!
Ah, Gloriosa superba! Lovely memories of my days in Form 5, studying the parts of a flower for Biology. Your photos reminds me how beautiful the flowers are. Thanks you!
I really like them and they come in such lovey colours. I’ve been collecting them slowly. They do grow well and self seed well and once you’ve got them it’s rather difficult to ever be without these toxic lovelies whose chemicals are used in chemotherapy .
I once dug one up on the beach on the Indian ocean, it was just twenty centimetres high and flowering, lovely bright orange.
I don’t, well hardly ever take anything from the wild unless rescuing it from development or taking a safe little cutting however these I know grow like weeds on the beach, right in the sand and I thought that would be fantastic, a dwarf. However a meter and a half later down into the soft African beach sand digging with my bare hands I only found where the flower stem met the tuber! Not only was it very deep but the tuber was incredibly long being in a state of active growth. They’re also very fragile so what was going to be just a little scoop and tug on a stem turned out to be an archaeological excavation site. The tuber or bulb was 70cm long either side! This is a surprise because when you buy them it’s just, I dunno, a few inches maybe, fat and forked. So very carefully I got it out and very gently managed to roll it into a twisted coil, plantlet and flower still attached. Like rolling a vey long thin carrot. The bulb was completely white like a turnip which slowly turned brownish in the air. I managed to get it home few thousand kilometres away in one piece. As it browned it had became softer and more pliable so I could reduce the coil substantially for travel. At a certain point it shrunk and hardened and I couldn’t manipulate it any more in case it snapped. The flower stem withered and I sniped it off. I planted in a pot and it flowered the same, the very same season! Lovely pure orange self. But it wasn’t a dwarf of course and rambles all over the place. I cant be sure if they belong to it but mini seedling appeared around it’s stem too.
Mine grow very tall and always run out of place to cling to then fall over and scramble where ever they can. I have been meaning to try and set up a fence or something because they do look very nice grown straight up a fence where the flowers sit like little flames along the top. Moment mine are all in one big pot, yellow, orange, pink, purple red and yellow, dark maroon and yellow, and white. They come up at different times but Rothchildiana is always first closely followed by the rest. Probably the nicest form is still Rothchildiana with it’s broad petals, dark purple red and thin trim of electric yellow. I love them all. The flowers also fade a different colour which is nice.
Love your story!