Freesia Species

This is an easy to grow plant even for a first-timer. I grew this on a sunny South-facing window sill - 3 corms in a 4" pot that fits my...Read More window sill width. Maybe since it was grown indoors with less light than the outdoor setting, my freesias are closer to 18 - 20" tall rather than the 6 - 12" indicated in this file. It took abut a week or two for the corms to sprout and over 3 months for the flower buds to appear. It is very interesting to see the young flower buds growing inside the leaf and then eventually break out of the leaf. The leaf with the flower buds really looks like it's pregnant! Also, the young flower buds look like shafts of wheat until they grow bigger.

Staking is an absolute necessity as the leaves and then the flowers grow quite tall and will fall over if not supported. I used three 24" stakes and tied them together with twine to form a cage to support the plants. It would be great if I can find some mini-tomato cages for this purpose.

The leaves resemble iris leaves and are somewhat weedy-looking but the flowers are colorful and amazingly fragrant. This is a worthy plant to grow as it gives you 1 - 2 stems of 6 flowers per corm. I had grown the Narcissus Constantinople at the same time. For the amount of work, freesias are definitely a better bet with more flowers per corm/bulb.