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Agapanthus praecox 'Getty White' (Getty White Agapanthus) - An evergreen perennial with foliage to 18 to 24 inches tall and forming a clump to 3 feet wide. It is similar to typical Agapanthus praecox but with slender stemmed inflorescence bearing large rounded clusters of white flowers during late spring and summer.
Plant in full sun to light shade and give occasional irrigation. Good for massing as a groundcover or used individually as an accent plant. Hardy to about 20-25 degrees F. A great white Agapanthus selection that comes true from seed.
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 plant is listed in Wim Snoeijer's book Agapanthus: a Revision of the Genus as a hybrid rather than as a variant of A. praecox ssp. orientalis, but we originally received the seed of this plant as a white Agapanthus praecox ssp. orientalis and since it comes true from seed and is not a single vegetatively reproduced plant, we continue to list it as this species. We have grown this plant since 1996 after first receiving seed from Eric Anderson of Seedco (now Anderson Seed Company), who reportedly collected seed from a solid white planting at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California and have grown it continuously since.
The information displayed on this page about Agapanthus praecox ssp orientalis 'Getty White' is based on the research we have conducted about it in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.
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