Agapanthus Blue Baby - African lily

Agapanthus ‘Blue Baby’ is a very attractive dwarf agapanthus, prized for its compact habit, its more or less evergreen foliage and its luminous light blue summer flowering. This variety is well-suited to small gardens, terraces and sunny borders. It concentrates all the elegance of the larger agapanthus in a smaller format, more adapted to pots and limited spaces.

This variety belongs to the Amaryllidaceae family. Cultivated agapanthus mainly derive from South African species growing in the Cape provinces, on rocky slopes, in sandy or stony, well-drained ground, often in a mild climate with dry summers. The cultivar is registered under the name Agapanthus ‘Blue Baby’ or ‘Baby Blue’. It has been in cultivation in New Zealand since the late 1980s. This selection belongs to the horticultural Funnel group, which brings together agapanthus with funnel-shaped flowers.
'Blue Baby' is a perennial with fleshy roots that develops into a dense clump. Its narrow, strap-shaped, fairly dark green foliage does not exceed 15 to 20 cm in height. It persists in winter in mild climates, but may partially disappear where frost is more pronounced. The flowering stems rise up to 60 cm from the ground. They bear rather open umbels, composed of 16 to 25 flowers or more. Each flower is tubular at the base, then opens into a star, in shades of light lavender blue to pale violet-blue, with a darker central vein. Flowering occurs between July and September, lasting 5 to 7 weeks. A well-protected clump will withstand -7 °C in very well-drained soil. Like many evergreen agapanthus, it dislikes winter moisture more than a brief frost in dry soil.

The 'Blue Baby' variety is useful for limited spaces, where a large agapanthus would become too cumbersome. It works well at the edge of a path, in the foreground of a flower bed, or in a large pot on a warm, sunny terrace. You can pair it with Libertia peregrinans for its coppery foliage, Tulbaghia violacea ‘Silver Lace’, which is lighter and finely variegated, the very blue Festuca glauca ‘Intense Blue’, or the taller, bicoloured agapanthus ‘Fireworks’. In regions with cold winters, container cultivation remains the best solution, as it allows the pot to be overwintered in a cool, bright location.