Reimagining the humble aggie

The humble agapanthus is being reimagined by clever breeders, resulting in new colours and sizes - and even seedless varieties.

Beautiful: Agapanthus ‘Grace’

Aggies. The nickname for agapanthus is used with affection or scorn, depending on your viewpoint – garden stalwart or weed? But plant breeders have been hard at work to reinvent aggies in ways that might surprise you.

Agapanthus, traditionally mauve-blue or white, have long been valued for their lush foliage and lofty summer blooms, produced with minimal care. Clumps multiply readily but also self-seed, leading to their reputation for weediness. However, the heavy seeds don’t spread far; bushland invasion is mostly from irresponsible dumping.

‘River Garden White’

The push to breed new varieties that don’t produce seeds is hand-in-hand with developing desirable qualities such as new colours, larger flower heads, compact sizes and variegated leaves. John Craigie of family- owned Pine Mountain Nursery in Queensland has been breeding agapanthus for more than 20 years. The former commercial lawyer is still working on his dream of a truly pink agapanthus but has bred some outstanding varieties. ‘Queen Mum’ has massive heads of bicolour, blue and white flowers that top 1.5m tall. “It’s the best ever bred,” Craigie says of the showstopper that is now sold around the world. ‘Lilibet’ is a compact version and ‘Maxsie’ is a new mid-size version that also spots flowers in autumn. His just-released ‘River Garden White’, named for surviving the 2011 Brisbane floods, produces densely packed balls of flowers. ‘Madison’ is soft lavender flushing to white while ‘Madelyn’ has intense purple blooms. ‘Grace’, available from December, is a multi-petalled white with a green throat.

‘Sea Storm’

An agapanthus variety can be self-sterile but still able to cross-pollinate with other varieties to produce seed – an attribute necessary to breeding programs. “You have to keep chasing the recessive genes to get the colour breaks to come out,” Craigie explains. Once he’s happy with a new variety, it is reproduced in quantity using tissue culture (a high-volume, laboratory cloning technique), and the progeny extensively field-trialled.

‘Lilibet’

Craigie is working on a range of pinks, refining their colour strength, and developing varieties that have branched flower stems with more than one head. Another feature is re-flowering; ‘Lilibet’ can flower from October to February, as does ‘Snowball’. The Storm series from Anthony Tesselaar Plants is another excellent range of compact, long- and prolific-flowering agapanthus. Other new varieties have deep purple blooms with almost black buds such as ‘Black Pantha’, ‘Black Magic’ and ‘Purple Cloud’; ‘Sugar Plum’ is a compact dark. If you’re after variegated foliage, look for ‘Golden Drop’ and dwarf ‘Tinkerbell’ with striped green and white leaves.

Use agapanthus in any sunny position as an edging border, to stabilise soil on slopes, or in mass plantings. They’re excellent fire retardant plants, take light frosts and coastal exposure, and thrive in all but wet soils. The tall blooms are sensational cut flowers.

Q&A

How many trees do I need to plant to offset 1000 litres of tractor and car diesel used? My council suggests suitable tree species but not numbers or area to be planted. Rodney Waldron, by email

According to carbonpositiveaustralia.org.au, it can take three to five trees more than 25 years to sequester 1 tonne of CO2 in areas with high rainfall and good soil. However, in low rainfall, poor-soil areas you might need up to 15 trees per tonne. Their website has a carbon calculator where, among other items, you can input vehicles by litres of diesel consumed.

Since I transplanted a white bougainvillea several years ago, it has never bloomed, despite seaweed and fertiliser. What can I do? Janice Sharp, by email

Bougainvilleas have extremely temperamental root systems – they hate any disturbance. Even planted from a pot they can take a few years to settle in; it’s best to cut the pot so you can remove it ever so gently once in the planting hole. Some folk even plant with the pot still on after cutting the bottom out and slitting the sides. Bougainvilleas must have at least six hours of direct sun each day to flower well.

How can I stop creeping oxalis spreading across my lawn? I’ve used bindii and clover killer, but it didn’t work on this weed. Lyn Alcock, Gold Coast

As well as growing through the lawn, this weed spreads by explosive seed pods; eradication takes persistence. Firstly, improve your lawn’s vigour with regular fertiliser and water; check the pH is 6.5-7. You might need to repeat the selective lawn herbicide after a month.

Send your questions to: [e-mail] or Helen Young, PO Box 3098, Willoughby North, NSW 2068; helenyoung.com.au. The best question in November wins the new Hills Planter Retracting Clothesline worth $129. hillshome.com.au. October’s winner is Bronwyn Harris of Sydney for her question about rejuvenating lawn.