Our Spring Plant Sale on April 13, will feature a Silent Auction of Hort industry donations and our selections of unusual, rare, first offerings, and artful arrangements! Next in the lineup is Scadoxus nutans, a plant that was thought extinct in its native Ethiopia that popped up alive and well in an obscure plant collection somewhere, thanks to a plant collector’s eye for the unusual. It happens to be a very easy plant to grow: go on a long vacation and the plant transfers all the resources from the leaves down to the underground rhizome and awaits your return. Resume watering and a new flush of leaves is rapidly deployed along with a flower spike, which erupts from one side of the pseudostem. This plant is designed for perching bird pollination with a stout stalk and downcast flowers holding nectar. Easily hand pollinated, the fruit form quickly and turn a bright orange, holding for several months. Occasionally the seeds germinate inside the fruit. They are enclosed in a tough sack allowing them to survive passage through a bird’s gut. Makes an excellent house plant, or a pot plant to brighten a protected spot in the shade outdoors.
