It was early summer, 1986, and I was visiting the Bay area for the first time. I pulled off of I-80 onto University Boulevard in Berkeley and headed east toward Shattuck Avenue. I was very tired from driving all day... so it took a while for me to realize what I was seeing. University was a divided street with a wide median... and the entire median, stretching from I-80 to Shattuck, was planted with blooming Lilies of the Nile [Agapanthus africanus.] It was a stunning sight... and I've liked Agapanthus ever since.
It isn't a stretch to understand why Agapanthus does not show up in nurseries in central Oklahoma very often. But two years ago Lowe's had a large selection of fully foliaged and budded 1 gallon plants for a very reasonable price. I put three in a large pot because they bloom better when pot bound... fertilized them... and put them on the patio. They bloomed very respectably that first summer... enough blooms to cut a few stems for the house.
That winter I brought the pot in and placed it just inside a south-facing plate-glass window. In early February they began blooming in the living room. If memory serves they put up nine flowers that lasted longer indoors than they did outside.
I divided the large pot that spring into 3 pots. None of them bloomed last summer... or indoors last winter.
But they have filled in their pots by now... and all three are producing blooms again.
Agapanthus is just a bit quirky to grow... but not that much and well worth the effort.

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I've had success growing Agapanthus in a very large pot here in Florida, but every time I have tried growing it in the ground it has petered out and died. The plant also likes to be crowded, and it blooms best when it has been in the same pot for years. After I divide or repot it, it pouts and does not bloom for at least a year. So lately I have cut out any old or unhealthy growth each spring and re-filled spaces in the old pot with new potting soil washed down into the root ball with the hose. A little timed-release fertilizer after the new soil is in, and that's about all the care it takes each year. Other than rain in the summer, it gets almost no supplemental water.

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Some of our agapanthus grow 3 feet tall with 4 to 5 foot blooms.

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Lily of the Nile/African Lily is a native of South Africa and has become a popular garden plant around the world. The plant grows from bulbs and has a short stem with long and narrow arching leaves. During the summer months clusters of flowers are borne atop 18" to 24" tall scapes. I've grown both the blue and white varieties in the garden in full sun and partial shade, and I've also had success growing them in containers.

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