How to Grow and Care for Freesia Flowers Freesia spp.
Freesia is a genus of about 16 fragrant flowering species in the Iridaceae family that also includes gladiolus and iris.
The blossoms are showy, with three upper petals and three sepals below, forming a tubular or funnel-shaped vessel favored by honeybees.
Colors include a striking variety of lavender, orange, pink, purple, red, white, yellow, and bicolor combinations.
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Those most readily available to today’s gardeners are hybrids. In Zones 9 to 10, they are perennials.
Elsewhere, they may be grown as annuals to be discarded at season’s end, tender perennials lifted before first frost and stored over the cold months, or grown indoors for winter blooms.
This guide discusses all you need to know to grow and care for freesia at your house.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
Let’s start with a bit of background.
Cultivation and HistoryCool-weather freesia grows from a bulb-like tuber called a corm and blooms from mid-winter to spring in its native South Africa, entering dormancy when the temperatures rise above 70°F.
It is winter hardy in Zones 9 and 10 but frost-tender.
The foliage is grass- or sword-like, similar to that of a gladiolus or iris.
Flowers appear in succession along one side of a leafless, arching raceme and bloom from the bottom to the top.
The average mature dimensions are 12 to 18 inches tall and six to 12 inches wide.
Cultivation dates back to 19th century England during the heyday of plant hunters who discovered new species for British collections.
With six to 12 fragrant flowers per stem and longevity as a cut flower, these exciting species were
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