A LINK WITH THE PAST

Press, Volume C, Issue 29691, 8 December 1961, Page 10

A LINK WITH THE PAST

Early Navigator Commemorated Most ardent students of New Zealand’s history will be quite familiar with the name of J. F. G. de la Perouse, the French circumnavigator, who sailed the southern seas only a few years after Cook himself. Many fewer people will be aware that his name is commemorated in an attractive little group of bulbs, which are in flower now— Lapeyrousia. An English gardening dictionary I possess says of this group . . . "Half-hardy bulbs of little importance horticultural,” but this is a malignment of the very first order. Lapeyrousia cruenta, the species which is commonest in cultivation, is a delightful little plant that makes itself at home anywhere. It grows about Bin tall, with flower stems that extend its height to about a foot. Flowers are carried up to a dozen or so to the stem, but they open in succession, so that the flowering season lasts for several weeks. Blooms are carmine-crim-son in colour, each with a blackish splotch at the base. In full sun they tend to become rather faded before their time, but one hardly notices the effect in bulk. Seed is freely produced, and self-sown seedlings will slowly extend the area originally planted, free of charge. Germination is quite rapid, and small plants will be visible before winter. If conditions are too severe, however, frost will take its toll of these snail plants, although grown corms are very rarely affected. If you want to be really sure of raising a few. just sow the seed out-of-doors in spring, when it will flower the first season if sown sufficiently early.