Description
This is a clump-forming species with thin but rigid, bright blue-green leaves and tufted stems bearing flower spikes which hold many, funnel-shaped, pink to magenta flowers in arching spikes. The spikes are not as tall as the largest species (but they are taller than the shortest) and the individual blooms are also a little different, being individually larger than most with a much more open structure. These are made from mid- to late-summer and this is notable for being one of the latest flowering, certainly of the species that we list.
In the wild this is native to more easterly regions of southern Africa from Mpumalanga to KwaZulu-Natal and many of its wild occurrences are verging on subtropical. Perhaps because of this, some sites and books recommend a degree of winter protection or suggest borderline hardiness. By all means treat it so, but not knowing this when we started growing it, we treated it just like all of our other species and it grows and perennates just as well as the rest!
Picture used under Creative Commons BY 2, original Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, via Wikimedia Commons