Freesia Single Blue

The Blue Simple Freesia is a bulbous plant with a convex habit supporting unilateral flowering. The amethyst-coloured single flowers are cone-shaped and have a sweet fragrance reminiscent of jasmine.

The Freesia, also known as Cape Lily, is native to East Africa from Kenya to South Africa. It was named by Danish botanist Ecklon, a specialist in South African flora, in honour of one of his brightest students, Dr Freese, a physician, pharmacist, and botanist himself. This beautiful Iridaceae is already naturalised in some regions of Southern France. Its floral stems give it a spreading and highly branched habit.

The Blue Simple Freesia has deciduous, vertically oriented, soft green foliage shaped like a sharp-tipped sword. The leaves and the floral stems reach a height of about 40 cm (16in). The inflorescence develops from May to July. It grows at the end of a convex floral stem. This unilateral flowering consists of 8 to 10 amethyst-colored cone-shaped flowers measuring 2 to 3 cm (1in). They are actinomorphic, meaning they are radially symmetrical. Each plant will have 4 to 5 floral stems. The Freesia has a sweet fragrance reminiscent of jasmine. Some even describe it as having tones of neroli with spicy and honeyed inflexions. The experience of elegance with its clean lines is guaranteed with this beautiful Freesia with its single flowers. The Freesia is what is called a bulbous plant. But in this specific case, it is a corm, a nutrient reserve for the plant. Unlike true bulbs, the corm exhausts all its reserves during each seasonal cycle and is replaced by a new one each time. Its corm is conical and measures about 1 to 2 cm (0 to 1in) at its base. It should be planted apex facing upwards at a depth of 5 cm (2in). New shoots will quickly and easily emerge from there.

The Freesia is frost-sensitive and cannot tolerate temperatures below -5 °C (23°F). If you want to see it grow in open ground, ensure the last frost has passed before planting it. Then, find a sunny location for it throughout the day. It likes cool, well-drained, sandy to gravelly soils. It does not appreciate limestone. It can be paired with orange, yellow, or red Crocosmia in rockeries or border plantings. The Freesia can be paired with other elegant, fragrant or non-fragrant plants, whether in the ground or in a pot. At the end of the season, once the leaves have turned yellow, remember to remove the corms from the soil, put them into dormancy indoors, and replant them in spring. The plant replenishes its reserves for the following year as long as the leaves are green. The Freesia is currently very trendy in elaborate floral compositions. As soon as the first flowers open, you can trim the floral stems and thus keep the flowers fresh for about three weeks.