Dierama is a genus in the Iris Family (Iridaceae) with 44 species scattered from Ethiopia to the southern Cape of South Africa. The name Dierama is from the Greek word for funnel, in reference to the shape of the flowers. The common name of Hairbells, as they are called in South Africa, is from the hair like stalks of the plants, but they are also called Wand Flowers or Fairy Wands when cultivated in England and the United States.

Among the prettiest of the genus is Dierama pendulum 'Album'. It has pure white flared bell shaped flowers on wispy 3-5 ft. stems. We received this plant from John Bleck, past curator of the greenhouses at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The University had received the seed for their plants from Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden in South Africa.

We also grow Dierama pulcherimum 'Silver Dawn', which we received from Suncrest Nursery, with tall stalks of light pink flowers that are more bell shaped and less flared than D. pendulum and the similarly shaped but much darker Dierama pulcherimum "Western Hills Select" which is from a seed strain that Ginny Hunt selected from plants growing at Western Hills Nursery in Occidental, California.

A good source of information of this beautiful group of plants is the book Dierama; The Hairbells of Africa by O.M. Hilliard and B.L Burtt. This book includes beautiful watercolor prints by Auriol Batten that helps identify the different species in a way better than even a photograph could.

More bulbs in the garden