Oxblood lily ribbon of red and ruellia reticence
The oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida) atop the retaining wall in the back garden are in full, crimson bloom, and that red ribbon makes me so happy when I step out to view it in the warm afternoon light.
This cluster is growing amid the spiny arms of soap aloe (Aloe maculata). Hmm, these will be tricky to divide one day.
Actually most of these bulbs are growing alongside spiny, tough lovelies, like ‘Bright Edge’ yucca. I particularly like this pairing, with the yucca’s yellow stripes echoing the oxblood’s yellow eye.
Lots of lilies!
Though not native to Texas, they are Texas tough. This is one bulb every Southern garden should have. But just so you know, the deer love to eat the ones I’ve tried out front.
If only this praying mantis was big enough to catch a few deer. Hmm, but then it would be big enough to catch me. Nevermind! I’ll stick with the deer.
I have a question for you about the tall ruellia (Ruellia brittoniana) in which it’s hunting. I bought this plant last October and have it in a container on my shady front porch. It bloomed beautifully last fall, but this year, nada. Not one flower. It has pushed up plenty of new growth, so it seems happy enough, but I’m not. I’d love any suggestions you might have.
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Those lilies are really beautiful. I don’t envy you the dividing task. Sorry to hear you have as much trouble with deer as I do.
Doesn’t everyone these days? Only kidding (sort of). 🙂 —Pam
Do you have any suggestions of where I may be able to purchase oxblood lily (Rhodophiala bifida) bulbs locally around Austin? Thank you for sharing the pictures of your garden!
Barton Springs Nursery often carries them. I’d check with Natural Gardener and The Great Outdoors too. —Pam
I have purple, white and pink ruellia in my yard. They aren’t in a pot, but I’ve had some years where they did not bloom at all as well. No real reason for it that I’ve found. Sometimes they just don’t want to bloom. Mine did that last year, but this year they’ve been full of blooms!
Hmm, the mystery continues. Thanks for sharing your experience with them, Leah. —Pam
We just moved here last year. Being a bulb lover, I put in several oxblood lilies last year. They bloomed last week and are too isolated right now. In need to put in some more plants to get an integrated look.
The woman we bought the house from was an avid gardener but she inclined more toward green, structural plantings rather than flowers. So it was a pleasant surprise this week when two lycoris came up and bloomed. I love bulbs. I ordered a bunch from Old House Gardens and Brent and Becky’s Bulbs. I am sure I will be cursing myself when I have to dig them all into the Texas clay in a month or so, but boy are they worth it!
Bulbs makes the best surprises when they pop up, and inherited gardens are often full of such surprises. Congrats on inheriting some of these wonderful bulbs! —Pam
I have perhaps one purple ruellia though many of the rest of my spaces have been a bit taken over by the more common pink flowering type. It is my general impression the pink bloom fairly well regardless of circumstances but my purple is much more particular. It only blooms occasionally and for reasons I can’t decipher. It could be the purple are a much more thirsty variety? No clue but I’ll be happy if YOU can figure it out!
It figures I would pick the fussy variety. I may just treat it as an annual and dig it out to replace it with a new one next spring. —Pam
I love oxblood lilies, but I’ve only ever seen them on blogs! I planted a handful of bulbs one year, but nothing ever came up, no foliage and definitely no flowers. I was so bummed. Maybe I’ll try again.
Alison, these are warm-climate bulbs, so I wonder if that might be the problem for you in the PacNW? Or maybe they got eaten by something? I’m with you: I’d try again, maybe in a different spot. Probably in your cooler, damper region you’d want to go with full sun and sharp drainage. —Pam
I planted some oxblood bulbs I’d gotten at the Natural Gardener a couple years ago, but I never saw anything come up, so I’d forgotten all about them! This week, a BUNCH of them popped up after all our rains! What a fun, lovely surprise! 😀
Yay! I guess they just needed some time to get settled. —Pam
Those red blooms of the oxblood lily are gorgeous. What a treat this time of year. Definitely don’t want a preying mantis big enough to eat a deer. Scary. 🙂
I know. They always look at you as if they’re considering eating you. —Pam
I like the placement of your oxblood lilies. I think they are better suited to draping over the wall and mixed with other plants than a stand-alone planting. I have the tall ruellia. I think it like quite a bit of sun as I see it blooming its head off in a neighbors garden. I lost most of mine when we did some work this spring but one survived and it is not blooming ..yet. I have loads of the dwarf ones and love them for their faithful non-stop bloom. That whole family are pretty invasive though, some by seed and the tall one by runners.
I have the dwarf ‘Katie’ too and love it for its toughness. I find them pretty easy to control in my fairly dry garden. The tall ruellia I would only grow in a pot; it definitely sends runners around the edge of the pot that I’ve planted this one in. No danger of it spreading by seed if it won’t bloom though — ha! —Pam
We had the purple Ruellia in Tucson and it bloomed all the time in part shade. Was very “vigorous” but spread was checked by a DG pathway. Wait a while before you toss it?
I am hoping at least to get a fall bloom out of it. Thanks for sharing your experience with it, Nancy. —Pam
The oxbloods have had quite a show this fall, haven’t they? Love your little mantis.
Yes, and they are so heartening, aren’t they, Tina? —Pam
Astra, check out Southern Bulb Co. as well. They are part of the same movement of “old bulb boosters” as the two you mentioned. All three are excellent people to do business with.
Excellent! Thanks for the recommendation. It has been amusing ordering bulbs from these companies for Austin after a decade ordering for Colorado. It’s almost a completely non-overlapping set.
The new bulbs are exciting but I do sigh a bit for my species tulips, crocus, and miniature iris. Ah well.
I second the recommendation for Southern Bulb Co. —Pam
Astra, there is one species tulip that should work for you, T. Clusiana. At least one of the three bulb houses will have it. As for more ideas, look at Bulbs for Warm Climates by Thad Howard and Garden Bulbs for the South by Scott Ogden. Scott is married to Lauren Springer and divides his (their) time between Austin and Fort Collins, Colorado, so they know both places. Her book is The Undaunted Gardener, and I think she has a new one out.
Pam, I used to have a boatload of ruellia, and still have a few. The guaranteed way I have found to get them to bloom is to give them some seaweed. For me at least, they bloom within days after a feeding. I did it monthly when I had a lot of them. But mine are blooming on their own right now after the rains. Despite The fact that they are drought tough, the only time mine bloom on their own is when they get ample water.
I’ll see if feeding mine helps, Robin. Thanks for the suggestion. —Pam
My tall purple ruellia is only now starting to bloom. It’s months late this year. No idea why.
They seem kind of persnickety, don’t they? —Pam
Try some bone meal for your ruellia.
I think I will feed it, Greggo. Thanks for the suggestion. —Pam
I’m with Lori – my tall purple ruellia is only now starting to bloom…It seems to be dependent on sun and water – the plants that get more sun are more likely to bloom.
Thanks, Katina. Hoping for flowers soon. —Pam
For everyone frustrated by Ruellia brittoniana, there is an alternative that is less flakey. That is R. malacosperma. The good side is it will grow and bloom in anything from standing water in shade to an unirrigated parking lot in full sun, and it looks very similar to R. brittoniana. The bad side is it is an invasive tropical which spreads insidiously underground (at least in clay gumbo) and can overwhelm a bed and be the devil to get rid of. Very reliable and prolific bloomer, though.
I’ll have to look into that one since I’d be keeping it safely planted in a pot on the porch. —Pam
Pam, I’ve had the purple brittoniana for many years. It does love some sun. It spreads by underground runners, so yes, keep it in a pot, but move your pot into the brutal sun. Mine grow along a fenceline in a section of the yard that I ignore and they love it. The pink ones spread by seed, not runners, so they are easier to pull up when you find seedlings in the yard.
Patty, thanks for the tip. Unfortunately moving it into the sun will make it too thirsty for me to keep alive. I had it on the sunnier side of the porch earlier this summer, and it wilted if I didn’t water it every day. Everyday watering is definitely not my thing. It seems I may need to either accept a late bloom time or find a different plant for my porch. —Pam
Pam, I have some in pots here and there and don’t pay much attention to the wilt, I guess. However, if you’d like something else for your porch you could try another plant in the same family, ruellia squarrosa has the same flower but different foliage, and seems to take a lot more shade than the tall variety. If you’d like to try some and can’t find it locally, let me know and I’ll be happy to ship some off to ya!
It seems there are various ruellia to try, between the suggestions made by you and Peter. Thanks for the offer, Patty. I’ll wait and see what mine does this fall and decide next spring if I need to try something else. —Pam