July in Cornwall = Agapanthus commonly referred to as the Lily-of-the-Nile or the African lily plant. You will see them everywhere. In planters, alongside the footpaths, in gardens. They instantly take me back to South Africa where they are from and provide an exotic look to a place. I bought some new ones at the beginning of the year, but it will take time before they are big enough to flower and for some reason my variegated leaved agapanthus ‘Silver Moon’ has no flower stems at all this year. Apparently that is not unusual for this variety. Fortunately the strap shaped green leaves with creamy variegation are rather beautiful anyway.
Agapanthus create displays of large masses of striking flowers. They come in a huge range of colours and heights from almost-black through to purple, from French navy to royal blue through to subtle lilac, grey and white and even bicolour ones like ‘Twister’ and ‘Fireworks’.
The name, agapanthus, translates as ‘love flower’ and some are evergreen (Agapanthus africanus and Agapanthus praecox) and others deciduous, depending on which side of the Cape they grow on. The western Cape has a Mediterranean climate with moist damp winters, between May and August, followed by a dry summer between November and January. Agapanthus species on the western side grow in winter when moisture and warmth is available so they like to keep their foliage in winter. These are tender and may need taking into a greenhouse over winter.
The eastern Cape has a wet summer season lasting four months, between November and February, when rainfall averages 5 inches per month (125m). The winters, between May and August, are dry and cool however. As a result agapanthus species found on the eastern side of the Cape tend to do their growing in the summer and then die down in winter.
They respond to both water and food and a liquid high-potash tomato food applied every two weeks will pay dividends and don’t forget that agapanthus needs a sunny position that gets maximum daylight. The flowers, which are bee-friendly, last many weeks and they cut well. Don’t allow them to run to seed, always cut the spent flower heads off.
Earth laughs in flowers 
So beautiful! I love having them in my garden and with all the rain we have had they are growing beautifully. Thank you for sharing
Quite a lot of them here, too, though they’re well past their best with this heat. There were even more in the Azores where the climate obviously suited them. 🙂 🙂 Lovely lead photo, Jude. You’ve obviously had time to play, waiting about for the young un to recover.
Yes, they seem to like wet. I hadn’t realised that.
😆☔⛅💕
Aha, maybe that’s why mine aren’t too happy – it’s very dry here.
I don’t feed mine either, so maybe I need to!
Beautiful shots Jude. You know how I love agapanthus. 😀
They are everywhere down here – got a bit wrecked last year on account of the extreme cold and snow that is unprecedented in Cornwall (well at least this far west), but they seem to have recovered well.
We acquired some “overflow” agapanthus from a friend’s garden last year so I’m cautiously optimistic for my own flowers this summer 😀
You have captured agapanthus perfectly, Jude. It has such elegance and at the same time steeliness.
They look marvellous at the moment along the roadside.
A row of agapanthus once grew along my fence line but have all but disappeared, leaving one scraggly plant. Must have been the heat and smoke of the past few summers.
Mmm… They dislike too much dryness so I suppose that hasn’t helped. They may come back.
Agapanthus remind me of my great aunt who grew them in her garden in the UK. I wonder would they manage our cooler West of Ireland climate?
I am sure they would love the wet! But maybe they need more heat in the summer.
I didn’t know aggies had any other name. That was interesting information. Your photo collection is lovely Jude.
One wonders how they got the ‘Lily of the Nile’ name seeing as they don’t come from anywhere near the Nile!
Someone with a fanciful imagination.
The colours and all those blue tones are just divine. Lovely having the link to Cape reminiscences.
I think Cornwall is the closest I can get to the Cape experience in this country! Just need a bit more consistent heat in the summer months!