Wednesday Garden Pic: Lilly of the Nile

Today's Garden photo is one of my garden favorites: agapanthus or Lilly of the Nile.

I like it's because it's a blue flower, considering true blue flowers are a minority in the flower world. Mine are light blue. They do come darker to nearly purple blue and also come in white.
It has a circular head full of these small flowers that open a few at time over several days. No, they don't bloom all at once.
I grow mine in a pot, but they are fine in the ground. They're a common landscaping feature here in Florida. They bloom once, but their grassy greenery remains as nice texture in the garden till frost, which is why they're so popular in landscaping.
They're a fine cutting flower for vases,  though you will need to clean up dead blossoms at they fall off. When I change the vase water, I snip off expired blossoms, which gives the head a interesting pin-cushion look that's nice texture in a vase. That's a little flower-arranging secret: it's not just about color, but also shape and texture. When I was working as a florist, the shop would often have agapanthus on hand, particularly when "blue flowers" were requested in an arrangement. 

 Agapanthus is a bulb based flower. I've seen the bulbs sold in packs in bins at Lowe's, for example, where they sell other things like lillies, cannas & hostas. Or sometimes you can find them potted in the nursery. If all else fails and you can't find any locally, you can always order them from an on-line nursery.

The bulbs gradually multiply, giving you more and more blooms each year. The blossom stems are 18 to 24 inches high and it likes at least some sun, so full to partial sun.