Crinum campanulatum is endemic to the Albany floristic region of the Eastern Cape, where it occurs in temporary pools and seasonal marshes in grasslands. Information from plantzafrica.com

I bought this as a young plant. It grew well and started to bulk up nicely. At first I brought it inside over winter, as it is "tender," but after building a pond in 2009 I put it in the shallow part in a pot, where it seemed to be very happy. In their natural habitat in South Africa they can go dormant in the dry periods or can remain evergreen. In the spring to summer rain season, when the ground becomes covered with water, they flower! They can live permanently in water.

I had intended to bring the plant under cover for the winter after putting it in the pond, but the wildlife in the pond quickly grew and I did not want to disturb any creature which may be living around the plant, so I left it in the pond. Winter 2009/10 in the UK was quite a hard one. The pond had a good depth of ice to about 5 inches, which was well below the depth of the top of the pot. The leaves remained green even with ice for some time! Eventually the leaves died back, leaving the stems above the bulbs as seen in the photo. They were alive and grew to make an even bigger plant! Unfortunately, the last winter we had, 2010/11, was much harder with 7 weeks below freezing with temperatures down to -17C. The last time we had such harsh conditions was about 30 years ago. The plant died, to my disappointment! The flowers on this one were supposed to be the reddish form. There is also a white form, and it would have been nice to see the flowers!

Reply to this comment