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Veltheimia bracteata 'Yellow Comet' (Yellow Forest Lily) - A South African semi-deciduous bulb that produces a dozen or so glossy green leaves that are 1 foot to 18 inches long and 3 inches wide with wavy margins. In late winter and early spring appear the pure light yellow tubular flowers, upright and green tipped in bud and dangling downward when open, on 1-2-foot-tall fleshy stalks, somewhat similar to those of the yellow form of red hot poker plants (Kniphofia). Flowers are followed by large 3-winged papery capsules that are unusually attractive in their own right.
Grow in light shade, water regularly to only occasionally and is a fairly drought tolerant plant is it is allowed to go into summer dormancy. A great plant for the shade garden - can be nearly evergreen in summer months if watered but will rot if soil does not drain well with this treatment - best to allow to dry out in summer with new foliage coming on in fall. The species comes from a wide area of the Cape area and in Namaqualand where it grows on rocky slopes. The genus, first published in 1771 by German botanist Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch (1714-1786) who honored himself with the naming of the genus of the Locust trees (Gleditsia), honors Count Frederick Augustus von Veltheim (1741-1801) a German patron of Botany. This plant was long called Veltheimia viridifolia (meaning green leaves), a name given the plant in 1797 by the Dutch scientist and medical doctor Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin but this species and Velthemia undulata was lumped into Veltheimia bracteata as described by William Harvey in 1871.
We received our original stock plants of this great yellow form from Dylan Hannon, curator of the conservatory at the Huntington Botanical Gardens, who proposed the name 'Yellow Comet' and have sold this wonderful plant since 2013. We also grow the species Veltheimia bracteata, which is the same in all respects except it has pale rose-pink flowers, a seedling group of mixed pastel flower colored selections we call Veltheimia bracteata "Pastel Series" and the fully deciduous Veltheimia capensis which grows in full sun with attractive undulating gray leaves and is fall to winter flowering.
Information displayed on this page about Veltheimia bracteata 'Yellow Comet' 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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