|
Agapanthus praecox ssp. minimus 'Storms River Haze' (Storms River Lily of the Nile) - A medium sized evergreen agapanthus with leaves to 2 feet long by 1 inch wide. In midsummer appear the many flowers (up to 80) in large full and slight open heads that rise on sturdy stalks to 3 feet tall. The flowers look to be white from a distance, but from nearby it becomes obvious that they are a subtle shade of an unusual very light blue-gray color and after flowers fade, no fruit forms so the spent umbel becomes a decorative starburst that lingers on the plant for months .
Plant in full sun to light shade and irrigate regularly to occasionally. Hardy and evergreen to 20-25 degrees F and should be root hardy with mulching to considerably lower.
The name Agapanthus is derived from the Greek words 'agapé', meaning "love" or "friendship" and 'anthos', meaning "flower" and it is for this reason that "Love Flower" is sometimes given as its common name, though there does not seem to be any colloquial usage of this name and the reason for naming as such remains unclear. Some have suggested that the translation could be interpreted as "lovely flower", "flower of love" or if the name originated from the word 'Agapeo' which means "to be contented with" it could just refer to a flower Charles Louis L'Héritier, who first used the name Agapanthus. A good accounting of this is presented by Wim Snoeijer in his Agapanthus: A Revision of the Genus Timber Press 2004 but essentially Carl Linnaeus (the father of modern taxonomy) in 1753 published the name Crinum africanum for a plant likely brought back to Holland from the Cape of Good Hope by the year 1679. In 1789 Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle, the Director of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, changed the name of this plant to Agapanthus but used the invalid specific epithet umbellatus instead of preserving Linnaeus species name africanus. This mistake has perpetuated naming problems within the genus ever since. In addition, the common "Lily of the Nile" is often used for this plant even though this plant originated in South Africa and not along the Nile River.
This San Marcos Growers 2020 introduction is an attractive plant with a unique flower. In Wim Snoeijer Agapanthus: A Revision of the Genus (2004) it is noted the original 'Storms River' as being a selection of A. praecox ssp. minimus introduced by Kirstenbosch National Botanic Garden in 1987. It was from seed collected from plants growing along the Storms River delta at Tsitsikamma National Park in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Kirstenbosch offered seed of the plant and as seedlings were being cultivated instead of the original collected, Snoeijer noted that plants named 'Storms River' might best be considered a group rather than a single cultivar, since many plants in cultivation were actually seedlings and not a single clone. We received seed labeled Agapanthus praecox ssp. minimus 'Storms River' from Kirstenbosch in April 1997 and made a single plant selection of this plant from plants in our Agapanthus corral in 2015, naming this one selected clone 'Storms River Haze' because of its very pale colored flowers. We finally were able to release this plant in 2025.
Information displayed on this page about Agapanthus praecox ssp. minimus 'Storms River Haze' 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.
|
