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Babiana stricta (Baboon Flower) - A bulb-like corm forming plant that produces upright fans of pleated and slightly hairy, sword-shaped 6 inch tall leaves which emerge in mid-winter and are followed in the spring by short spikes rising just above the foliage, bearing blue to violet cup-shaped flowers. The bloom period is about 3 to 4 weeks and flowers and foliage die back by summer.
Plant in full sun and irrigate in spring if necessary but do not water regularly after the foliage dies back. Hardy as a dormant bulb to below 15° F but the foliage, which can be emergent during cold temperatures, is hardy only to short duration temperatures down to around 20° F. Looks best in the garden planted massed in clumps or along a border and is also nice as a container plant.
Babiana stricta comes from the clay soils in the Renosterveld (Afrikaans for "rhinoceros-field") plant community within the Cape Floristic Region in southwestern Cape Province of South Africa and has been used in the breeding to make many garden hybrids. The name for the genus comes from the Afrikaans word 'baviaan' for "baboon" from the observation in the wild of baboons digging and eating the corms, which were also part of indigenous people’s diet. The specific epithet is the Latin word for "erect" or "upright" in reference to the upright inclination of the leaves. We grew this great little plant at our nursery from 1992 until 2019.
Information displayed on this page about Babiana stricta is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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