Help with Agapanthus

I am hoping some of you know about the various Agapanthus. Mom's asked me to try and find one of the larger blue variety for her birthday later this month - and upon a quick search I realized there are tons of these things, hybrids and all. Apparently she has a blue dwarf variety now, that she says has flowers about the size of a baseball and is knee high. I suspect it's a hybrid of some sort.

Does anyone know what the larger type I'm looking for is? Apparently it's pretty invasive in California (was made famous in the OJ Trial too).

Any tips? I think I'm looking for Agapanthus africanus, but I'm a bit lost on what the largest type is.

Thanks,
John

Maybe try the Fla. forum or maybe Texas??? I think they're more popular in those states.

Thanks, I found some on eBay that said they were California "Giants" - so I'm guessing that's the one. Seems to be a pretty popular plant/flower.

I have several varieties, including some of the tall ones but haven't a clue which cultivars they are. I saw them on a pile of discarded yard waste and went dumpster diving for them They are evergreen and grow very well here but they are deer candy. I think they attract them from miles around. Mine are chewed to the ground this year and that probably means I won't get any flowers.

I'll be sure to let her know that, thanks for the tip. Luckily for them I suspect most of the deer are long gone from their property though - given all the development lately, hard to imagine deer sticking around.

I vote for the Agapanthus africanus ones because I seem to have read somewhere they're more hardy for us here in Columbia. Sometimes plants that grow well in California are fine for us, but many times they're not, probably because the nights cool down there.

I'd suggest trying Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh.

Good luck!

Thompson & Morgan has seeds of some agapanthus, but if you want instant gratification, I bought a couple at Lowe's, one called Danube Blue, and it's growing nicely.

Just a thought about deer -- seems the more development encroaches, the more the deer are a problem, not less. I assume because their space is being eliminated.

Just to be certain, it wouldn't hurt to have some Deer Fence of Deer Vik to use. (Both are water-resistant). I have a small mass of variegated liriope in my river birch bed, and one of the plants has been shaved almost to the ground. Whoever sampled the liriope must not have liked it, though, because the other plants were left untouched. Our subdivision is very large: 2200 homes.

Keonikale: Here's my `Danube Blue' agapanthus in its pot.