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Cape cowslip

User:BotBln / Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 3.0

Cape cowslip

Lachenalia aloides

A small, choice, winter-growing Cape bulb (Lachenalia aloides) that throws up a pair of fleshy, often maroon-spotted strap leaves and a slender stem of pendent, tubular flowers shading from yellow through orange and green to red - a living jewel for a pot or a frost-free rockery. Native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa - the winter-rainfall Western Cape of the Cape Floristic Region (POWO, Kew) - it follows the rhythm of that Mediterranean climate: it is winter-growing and summer-dormant, the opposite of most bulbs, so it is watered from autumn through spring while it is in leaf and flower and then kept dry and at rest through summer. It is frost-tender (RHS H2): outside warm, frost-free climates grow it in a pot in a cool greenhouse or a bright, frost-free room, or in a sheltered, sharply drained spot. In its native fynbos the nodding tubular flowers are pollinated by sunbirds, with bees also visiting. The bulbs are toxic if eaten - it is grown strictly as an ornamental.

Climate fit: narrow (13/100)

Container

Border

Focal point

Light

Full sun

Water

Low water

Mature size

6-12" tall · 4" apart

Hardy in zones

9a-10b

frosty to mild winters

Native in Illinois

No

The bulbs are toxic if eaten; this is an ornamental bulb, not a food plant.

°C

°F

Cold hardiness

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

Plotwright

USDA Zone 6b

-5°F to 0°F

Won't grow here

2050

2100

Zone 7a

Plotwright

0°F to 5°F

Won't grow here

In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.

✕

Out of range today and still out of range in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 4 ecoregions - 3 climate-resilient through 2070 · 1 newly possible by 2070. Best matches first.

California coastal sage and chaparral

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Eastern Australian temperate forests

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Fynbos shrubland

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New Zealand North Island temperate forests

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What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun

Water

Low water

Spacing

4"

Habit

Small winter-growing, summer-dormant Cape bulb with spotted strap leaves and pendent tubular flowers

Care tips

•

Get the season right: water from autumn through spring while it is in leaf and flower, then stop and keep it dry through summer - this is winter-growing and summer-dormant, the opposite of most bulbs, and summer watering rots the dormant bulb.

•

Give it the brightest light you can - full sun or bright indirect light - in a very gritty, sharply drained mix; weak light draws the leaves and flower stem and dulls the flower color.

•

Treat frost as the hard limit (RHS H2): in cold-winter climates grow it in a pot you can keep in a cool greenhouse or a bright, frost-free room, and move it under cover before frost.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant the bulbs in autumn, point up and just below the surface, in a gritty, sharply drained mix or soil in full sun or bright light. Where winter-hardy (USDA zones 9-10) grow it outdoors in a sheltered, sharply drained spot; in colder regions grow it in a pot that can be kept frost-free, because RHS rates Lachenalia aloides tender (H2).

Transplanting

Move or repot during the summer dormancy, when the bulb is leafless and at rest, lifting it cleanly from dry soil; settle it into fresh gritty mix and start watering again only when growth resumes in autumn.

Early growth

As leaves emerge in autumn, water through the growing season to keep the gritty mix lightly moist but never soggy, and give the brightest light you can so the leaves and flower stem stay compact rather than drawn. Feed lightly while in active growth.

Maturity

After flowering in winter to spring the leaves yellow and die back; ease off watering and let the bulb go fully dormant and dry through summer - this dry summer rest is essential. Resume watering in autumn to wake it for the next cycle.

Propagation

Increase it by separating the offset bulbs during summer dormancy, or grow it from seed sown in autumn (seedlings take a few years to reach flowering size); leaf cuttings are also possible for this genus.

Plant this, not that

Better fit for this place

For Chicago, IL, these are replacement suggestions: similar plants with a stronger hardiness fit now and/or in 2050.

Tulipa (hybrid)

Tulip

The classic spring bulb of mixed borders and cutting gardens - a fall-planted perennial bulb whose single upright stem carries a showy cup-, bowl-, or goblet-shaped flower in nearly every color but true blue. Hybrid garden tulips bloom in April and May above a few strap-shaped basal leaves, then go dormant by early summer. They thrive on cool, moist winters and warm, dry summers; most hybrids bloom best the first spring and decline in later years, so many gardeners treat them as annuals.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Hyacinthus orientalis

Common hyacinth

A spring-flowering bulb grown for dense upright spikes of waxy, star-shaped florets in blue, purple, pink, red, or white - famous for an intense, sometimes overpowering fragrance. Plant bulbs in mid-fall for an April bloom; flower quality typically declines after the first year, so the densest spikes often need replanting every couple of seasons. Every part of the bulb is mildly toxic and the sap can cause contact dermatitis, so gloves are advised when planting.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Gentiana acaulis

Trumpet gentian

Gentiana acaulis is a low, mat-forming alpine perennial native to the mountains of central and southern Europe - the Alps, Pyrenees, and Balkans - where it grows in short turf and rocky meadows from 2,625 to 9,843 feet elevation. In gardens it is prized for its astonishing, deep-blue trumpet flowers in late spring, and it has received the RHS Award of Garden Merit. The honest catch is its notorious habit of "sulking": well-established plants can refuse to flower for years with no apparent cause, and the gardener's only remedy is to dig and replant the mat a few inches away - a maddening behaviour that makes it a reliable showpiece in some gardens and a frustrating non-bloomer in others.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Hylotelephium 'Herbstfreude'

Autumn-joy stonecrop

A clump-forming herbaceous perennial grown for its showy late-season flower heads: masses of tiny star-like flowers borne in flattened cymes 3 to 6 inches across that emerge rosy pink, deepen to rose-red, and fade to coppery-rust as they die. Gray-green, fleshy, succulent-like leaves form upright clumps to about 24 inches. Easily grown in dry-to-medium, well-drained soil in full sun, it is drought tolerant and attracts butterflies, and its foliage and dead inflorescences persist into winter for added interest.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Gerbera jamesonii

Barberton daisy

Gerbera jamesonii, the Barberton daisy (also Transvaal daisy), is a tufted evergreen perennial herb in the daisy family (Asteraceae) native to the summer-rainfall grasslands and rocky woodland of north-eastern South Africa and Eswatini. It forms a basal rosette of lobed leaves from which leafless flowering scapes rise, each topped by a single large daisy-style flowerhead in orange-red, yellow, pink, or white. It is the wild ancestor of the thousands of florist gerbera cultivars and earns its place as a long-blooming focal point in borders and patio containers, attractive to bees and other insects. The load-bearing caution is frost-tenderness: RHS rates it H1C, meaning it survives outdoors only in summer or the very mildest, frost-free spots and must be overwintered under glass elsewhere (roughly USDA 9-11). It is non-toxic, with no reported poisoning hazard to people or pets, making it a safe choice where toxicity is a concern.

Hyacinthus orientalis

Common hyacinth

A spring-flowering bulb grown for dense upright spikes of waxy, star-shaped florets in blue, purple, pink, red, or white - famous for an intense, sometimes overpowering fragrance. Plant bulbs in mid-fall for an April bloom; flower quality typically declines after the first year, so the densest spikes often need replanting every couple of seasons. Every part of the bulb is mildly toxic and the sap can cause contact dermatitis, so gloves are advised when planting.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

Persian buttercup is a tuberous herbaceous perennial native to the eastern Mediterranean - from Cyprus, Crete, and Turkey across to Iran, Iraq, and the Levant - where it blooms in rocky scrub and meadows in late winter through spring. In gardens it is prized for its luminous, poppy-like flowers in red, orange, pink, yellow, and white (wild single forms) or the dense, multi-layered doubles of commercial 'Tecolote' and 'Bloomingdale' strains beloved by florists. The honest catch is its frost-tenderness: the tubers are killed below roughly 14°F, so gardeners in USDA zones 7 and colder must lift and store them after foliage dies down each summer, and the whole plant contains protoanemonin, a skin and gut irritant toxic to humans and livestock on contact or ingestion.

Aloe maculata (soap aloe, also called zebra aloe; long sold as Aloe saponaria) is a clumping, stemless succulent from southern Africa with broad, triangular leaves marked by distinctive "H-shaped" pale spots. It is grown for its flat-topped racemes of tubular flowers in shades of orange-red to coral and yellow, held on tall branched stalks that draw sunbirds, bees, and other insects. A tough, drought- and salt-tolerant groundcover that spreads by suckers, it suits rock gardens, dry borders, coastal plantings, and containers in warm climates. It is frost-tender: the RHS rates it H1C (roughly USDA 9b-11), so leaves are damaged below freezing and it needs protection or indoor wintering where frosts occur. The leaf gel is used traditionally for skin and other ailments, but the plant is recorded as harmful if eaten (handle with care; seeds are reputedly poisonous), so treat it as not for casual consumption around people and pets.

Gentiana acaulis is a low, mat-forming alpine perennial native to the mountains of central and southern Europe - the Alps, Pyrenees, and Balkans - where it grows in short turf and rocky meadows from 2,625 to 9,843 feet elevation. In gardens it is prized for its astonishing, deep-blue trumpet flowers in late spring, and it has received the RHS Award of Garden Merit. The honest catch is its notorious habit of "sulking": well-established plants can refuse to flower for years with no apparent cause, and the gardener's only remedy is to dig and replant the mat a few inches away - a maddening behaviour that makes it a reliable showpiece in some gardens and a frustrating non-bloomer in others.

The classic spring bulb of mixed borders and cutting gardens - a fall-planted perennial bulb whose single upright stem carries a showy cup-, bowl-, or goblet-shaped flower in nearly every color but true blue. Hybrid garden tulips bloom in April and May above a few strap-shaped basal leaves, then go dormant by early summer. They thrive on cool, moist winters and warm, dry summers; most hybrids bloom best the first spring and decline in later years, so many gardeners treat them as annuals.

Educator packet

Plant packet

Cape cowslip educator packet

A small, choice, winter-growing Cape bulb (Lachenalia aloides) that throws up a pair of fleshy, often maroon-spotted strap leaves and a slender stem of pendent, tubular flowers shading from yellow through orange and green to red - a living jewel for a pot or a frost-free rockery. Native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa - the winter-rainfall Western Cape of the Cape Floristic Region (POWO, Kew) - it follows the rhythm of that Mediterranean climate: it is winter-growing and summer-dormant, the opposite of most bulbs, so it is watered from autumn through spring while it is in leaf and flower and then kept dry and at rest through summer. It is frost-tender (RHS H2): outside warm, frost-free climates grow it in a pot in a cool greenhouse or a bright, frost-free room, or in a sheltered, sharply drained spot. In its native fynbos the nodding tubular flowers are pollinated by sunbirds, with bees also visiting. The bulbs are toxic if eaten - it is grown strictly as an ornamental.

Scientific name

Lachenalia aloides

Plant type

perennial

Hardiness

9a-10b

Light

full-sun

Moisture

low

Spacing

4 inches