VALLOTA PURPUREA

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 21, 25 January 1940, Page 19

VALLOTA PURPUREA

This is a very showy summer-flower-ing bulbous plant with brilliant scarlet flowers. It prefers a Mght, moist, sandy soil in a sunny position.

Bulbs should be planted fairly close together and if in pots they require plenty,of water.

Unlike the belladonnas and nerines, vallotas are evergreen. The present time is suitable for planting the bulbs or dividing them should they need it. It is not; usual, nor is it wise, to dry off the bulbs, as they do not naturally go to rest at any time. If the clumps of bulbs are doing well and producing a good percentage of flower spikes it is not wise to lift them as they resent root disturbance, usually doing best in one position for many years.

The spikes of scarlet flowers make a very bright spot in the garden and will always attract the eye of visitors. Vallotas are excellent pot plants. They may be potted up now, one bulb in a 7-inch pot, in good loamy soil which should be made firm round the bulb, but not too solid below it, as they an apt to force themselves right out of the pot if the soil is hard below them. When grown- in pots they do best if allowed to remain until quite pot-bound, when they should be shaken out, divided, and repotted. Liquid manure should be supplied to ! those in pots from now until flowering is finished.