<p>Foxtail Lily, Desert Candle. We still have one of the largest, saleable ranges of this spectacular flower in the country. With tall slender flower spikes these really do dominate the back of the border in a way that no other plant can! Some mystery surrounds how best to grow them, some books saying plant them deep while others say they prefer to be shallow. Ours are planted very shallowly, with the centre point being at ground level. We find placing the bulb on a bed of sand and gravel helps with the drainage. To encourage really spectacular flowers we also feed ours once the flower stem starts to show, using a general purpose granular feed. Sometimes they may skip a year of flowering, we find removing the individual flowers as they die and then cutting back the main stem to a third helps to discourage this. All the varieties have the same characteristics - a basal crown of thin, grey-green pointed leaves. From the centre a tall, leafless flower stem grows. Approximately half way up the first star-shaped flowers will break. Fully hardy but watch out for rotting in the winter. Real sun lovers and will tolerate poor soil so make ideal plants for that awkward area next to house walls. </p>
<h4>How to plant Eremurus:</h4>
<p>These perennials originate from the dry grasslands and semi-desert of western and central Asia, so need a very sunny, very free-draining site to do well in the UK. Soak the crowns for an hour or two before planting, to help the root system rehydrate. Dig a shallow planting hole, and cover the base with a thin layer of horticultural grit. Spread the roots out and cover with a thin layer of soil. Plant shallowly, so the growing point is just proud of the soil surface, but the fleshy roots are covered.</p>
Eremurus
Foxtail Lily, Desert Candle. We still have one of the largest, saleable ranges of this spectacular flower in the country. With tall slender flower spikes these really do dominate the back of the border in a way that no other plant can! Some mystery surrounds how best to grow them, some books saying plant them deep while others say they prefer to be shallow. Ours are planted very shallowly, with the centre point being at ground level. We find placing the bulb on a bed of sand and gravel helps with the drainage. To encourage really spectacular flowers we also feed ours once the flower stem starts to show, using a general purpose granular feed. Sometimes they may skip a year of flowering, we find removing the individual flowers as they die and then cutting back the main stem to a third helps to discourage this. All the varieties have the same characteristics - a basal crown of thin, grey-green pointed leaves. From the centre a tall, leafless flower stem grows. Approximately half way up the first star-shaped flowers will break. Fully hardy but watch out for rotting in the winter. Real sun lovers and will tolerate poor soil so make ideal plants for that awkward area next to house walls.
How to plant Eremurus:
These perennials originate from the dry grasslands and semi-desert of western and central Asia, so need a very sunny, very free-draining site to do well in the UK. Soak the crowns for an hour or two before planting, to help the root system rehydrate. Dig a shallow planting hole, and cover the base with a thin layer of horticultural grit. Spread the roots out and cover with a thin layer of soil. Plant shallowly, so the growing point is just proud of the soil surface, but the fleshy roots are covered.
