Starflower - Ipheion uniflorum - Wisley Blue - Laukur - Stjörnulaukur - Sumarblóm
Starflower - Ipheion uniflorum 'Wisley Blue' - White spring flowering bulb. It has six petals arranged in two layers of three, with pointed petals. It propagates well and spreads into masses.
The Spring Star Flower 'Ipheion uniflorum', a fall planted bulb, produces gorgeous flowers. These gorgeous flowers are six-petaled, star-shaped, and are sweetly fragrant. These flowers make a superb acccent for other nearby flowers. The grass-like foliage smells like garlic when crushed. The Spring Star Flower is great for edges of borders and plant layering. They bloom from early to late spring. It spreads by self-seeding and from bulb offsets. After a few years, if blooms begin to decline, the clumps need to be dug up, bulbs divided, and replanted to start afresh. This can be done at spring's end or whenever blooms have declined, or as soon as the grass begins to die back. See more:
One member of the onion family deserves to be better known. Ipheion uniflorum has lovely star-shaped flowers that grow on long slender scapes, giving the impression of fragile beauty. But, in reality, it is robust and hardy, requiring little attention to flourish and produce sizeable clumps. It is a genus of some 10 species belonging to the Alliaceae (onion) family, most of which are seldom heard of in this country. They are more popular in the United States, where they occupy the same niche as alliums do in Britain. I. uniflorum has been grown in British gardens for more than a century, and is the only species of ipheion to be commonly cultivated. Its common name, spring starflower, has never really caught on and its memorability has probably been affected by several name changes - bouvardia, brodiaea, leucocoryne, milla, tristagma, triteleia, and now ipheion. Many sales outlets still use the name triteleia. Ipheions hail from Argentina and Uruguay, neither of them countries recognised for sourcing bulb plants of commercial importance. But I. uniflorum thrives there and has even become naturalised in parts of France and Britain. Starflower is hardy to -15C and is damaged only by prolonged hard frost. Both bulbs and leaves smell slightly of onions (or garlic) if bruised. I find that the deep-rooting bulbs grow best when planted between September and November, in well-drained gritty or gravelly soil and preferably in full sun - although some recommend light-dappled shade and protection from strong winds and hot midday sun. See more:
Ipheion uniflorum has been grown in the UK since 1820, when bulbs collected from near Buenos Aires arrived in the country. It is recommended for growing in a well-drained position outside or as long-flowering pot plant in an unheated greenhouse. Various named forms are in cultivation, some of which may be hybrids. 'Wisley Blue' is a clear lilac blue; 'Froyle Mill' is a deeper violet blue; 'Album' is white. The cultivar 'Alberto Castillo', also white, has larger flowers and was collected in the 1980s by Alberto Castillo, the owner of Ezeiza Botanical Garden, from an abandoned Buenos Aires garden. See more:
Ipheion uniflorum 'Charlotte Bishop'
Ipheion uniflorum 'Jessie'
Ipheion uniflorum 'Rolf Fiedler'
Ipheion uniflorum 'White Star'
Ipheion uniflorum 'Wisley Blue'
Ipheion uniflorum 'White Star' Spring Star Flower White Star Fall Bulb Plant.
Áður voru þessar plöntur oft flokkaðar með liljuætt en eru af laukætt.