Leucocoryne White Dream - Glory-of-the-sun

Leucocoryne White Dream, also known as Glory of the Sun, is a tender bulb that produces highly fragrant, pure white star-shaped flowers with dark green centres in early summer. The petals of this variety overlap nicely. This sometimes fickle Chilean plant needs careful preparation to flower. It thrives in the sun, in rich, well-drained soil. Its flowers are perfect for cutting.

Leucocoryne belongs to the Aliaceae family. It is found only in scrub vegetation and valleys in the mountainous and somewhat arid coastal areas of Chile, in regions where rainfall is abundant in autumn, winter and spring, but summers are hot and dry. Therefore, they will thrive in a Mediterranean-type climate.

The 'White Dream' variety is a selection with pure white flowers with dark green centres. The plant grows from a bulb that can withstand only very light temporary frosts. It forms a clump of linear, long, narrow, grass-like basal leaves that emit a garlic-like smell when crushed and turn yellow during and just after flowering. Flowering occurs in June and attracts a large number of butterflies. 5 to 12 sweetly fragrant flowers, 4 to 6 cm (2in) in diameter are gathered in umbels, grouped at the top of tall, thin, and slightly twisted stems reaching 40 cm (16in) high. They display remarkable staminodes (sterile stamens) emerging from the white throats of the corollas, resembling white horns. The bulbs go dormant in summer, during the hot, dry season.

Leucocoryne White Dream will thrive in the ground in coastal areas of the Mediterranean, where mild winters and the long period of summer drought closely resemble the conditions it experiences in the wild. It will naturalise there by producing bulblets. This plant will be magnificent in a rock garden with botanical tulips, capers, Erodium foetidum, Peruvian scillas, cistus, Beschorneria yuccoides and asphodels. In colder regions, it will make beautiful container plants that can be stored dry in summer and protected from frost in winter. The flowers hold well in a vase and will fill the house with their fragrance.