Plant in full sun or part shade, with moderate water for best results. Cold hardy to 20-25 degrees F. A very attractive cultivar.

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.

Agapanthus 'Storm Cloud' was introduced in 1993 by the Saratoga Horticultural Foundation who noted in their Storm Cloud flyer that "The original specimen of this plant was a seedling produced by Barrie Coate from the cultivar Agapanthus 'Mood Indigo,' itself a hybrid developed by the Los Angeles State and Country Arboretum by hybridizing what they called Agapanthus africanus with Agapanthus pendulus, a very dark purple flowering plant now considered a subspecies of Agapanthus inapertus. This cultivar was selected for its production of 3' to 4' flower stems, 100 flowers per umbel and very dark blue-violet flower color." There is some confusion as the name 'Storm Cloud was also used for a selection of Agapanthus that was made by Jimmy Giridlian of Oakhurst Gardens in 1943. We have made comparisons of plants reputed to be this Giridlian form but from side-by-side comparisons, these plants appear to be identical, making us believe that we are only looking only at the Saratoga Horticultural Foundation plant and that the real Giridlian plant has likely been lost over the years. Compared to Agapanthus 'Ellamae' Storm Cloud is a slightly smaller plant with smaller flowers of a darker blue. We grew this very attractive cultivar from 1994 until 2025. 

The information displayed on this page about Agapanthus 'Storm Cloud' 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.