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Cape bugle-lily

Andrew Massyn / Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 3.0

Cape bugle-lily

Watsonia borbonica

A tall, statuesque, winter-growing cormous perennial from the winter-rainfall fynbos of South Africa's Western Cape, grown for its bold fans of upright sword leaves and branched spikes of pink (to white) tubular flowers in late spring. Known as the Cape bugle-lily, it is a striking fynbos geophyte that flowers profusely the season after a fire. Honesty (load-bearing): it is a TALL plant, 4 to 6 feet in flower, and it is WINTER-GROWING and SUMMER-DORMANT - it grows through autumn and winter, flowers in late spring, then dies back and rests dry through summer, so you water it from autumn to spring and keep it dry and at rest in summer; watering it through a hot summer rots the corm. It is FROST-TENDER to borderline (RHS rates it about H3-H4): in cold-winter areas grow it in a warm, sheltered, sharply-drained spot or a large pot, or lift and store the dormant corms. It wants FULL SUN and well-drained soil and the room its height needs. In the wild it is FIRE-ADAPTED, flowering en masse the season after a fynbos fire. The corms are inedible. It is bird-pollinated, worked by sunbirds (and butterflies) along with long-tongued flies - described in the prose, since it is grown as an ornamental rather than for any crop.

Climate fit: narrow (17/100)

Focal point

Structure

Pollinator

Light

Full sun

Water

Moderate water

Mature size

4-6 ft tall · 12" apart

Hardy in zones

8b-10b

frosty to mild winters

Native in Illinois

No

In its native Western Cape fynbos the pink-to-white tubular flowers are bird-pollinated, worked by sunbirds (the ecological counterpart of hummingbirds) and visited by butterflies, with long-tongued flies also probing the long floral tubes - which is why the blooms are tubular and brightly coloured.

°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 8 ecoregions - 4 climate-resilient through 2070 · 4 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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Edwards Plateau savanna

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Piney Woods

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Puget lowland forests

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Willamette Valley oak savanna

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What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun

Water

Moderate water

Spacing

12"

Habit

A tall, statuesque, winter-growing cormous perennial with bold fans of upright sword leaves and branched spikes of pink (to white) tubular flowers in late spring; a striking fynbos geophyte that flowers profusely after fire. It is TALL (4 to 6 feet) and WINTER-GROWING: it grows through autumn and winter, flowers in late spring, then rests dry through summer, so water it autumn-to-spring and keep it dry and dormant in summer. Give it FULL SUN, well-drained soil, and the room its height needs. It is FROST-TENDER to borderline (RHS H3-H4): in cold-winter areas grow it in a warm, sheltered, sharply-drained spot or a large pot. In the wild it is FIRE-ADAPTED, flowering en masse the season after a fynbos fire. The corms are inedible. Bird-pollinated by sunbirds and worked by long-tongued flies.

Care tips

•

Get the watering season right: this is a WINTER-GROWING, SUMMER-DORMANT corm, so water it from autumn through spring while it is in leaf and keep it dry and at rest through summer - watering it through a hot summer rots the corm.

•

Give it full sun, sharply-drained soil, and the room a 4-6 foot plant needs; sharp drainage matters far more than rich soil, and a tall, sheltered spot keeps the spikes from flopping.

•

Treat it as frost-tender to borderline (RHS H3-H4): in cold-winter areas grow it in a warm, sheltered, sharply-drained spot or a large pot, or lift and store the dormant corms over winter.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant the corms in autumn, about 12 inches apart, in full sun in well-drained soil, with the room a 4-6 foot plant needs; sharp drainage matters far more than rich soil. This is a winter-growing, summer-dormant geophyte, so the corm goes in for the autumn-to-spring growing season. In cold-winter areas (below about zone 8b) grow it in a warm, sheltered, sharply-drained spot or a large pot, or lift and store the dormant corms over winter, since it is frost-tender to borderline (RHS H3-H4).

Transplanting

Lift and move or divide corms when the plant is dormant in summer, after the leaves have died back; this is also when you separate the cormels (small offset corms) that build up around the parent. Replant promptly into sharply-drained soil in full sun in autumn so the corms can root before winter growth begins.

Early growth

After autumn planting, water through autumn, winter, and spring while the fans of leaves grow, keeping the soil moist but never waterlogged, and then withhold water as the leaves yellow and the plant goes dormant for summer. Getting this back-to-front and watering through a hot, dry summer rots the corm, so let it rest dry once it dies down.

Maturity

Matures into a tall clump 4 to 6 feet high in flower, with bold fans of sword leaves and branched spikes of pink (to white) tubular flowers in late spring, then dies back to a dormant corm for the summer. Clumps build up and flower more freely over a few seasons as the corms multiply; in its fire-adapted fynbos home it flowers most profusely the season after a fire.

Propagation

Increased most easily by lifting the cormels (small offset corms) that form around the parent corm when dormant in summer and growing them on; larger cormels flower in a year or two. It also grows from seed sown in autumn, though seedlings take a few seasons to reach flowering size. Either way, plant or replant in autumn for the winter growing season.

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.

Eutrochium purpureum

Sweet Joe-Pye weed

A tall native perennial wildflower of moist meadows and woodland edges across eastern North America, producing large domed clusters of vanilla-scented pink-purple flowers in late summer - among the most reliable late-season nectar sources for monarchs, swallowtails, skippers, and native bees. Formerly classified as Eupatorium purpureum.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Alcea rosea

Hollyhock

The towering cottage-garden classic - rigid flower spires rise 5 to 8 feet, clothed top to bottom in showy funnel-shaped blooms of white, pink, and red from June to August. A short-lived perennial usually grown as a biennial or self-seeding "annual," it reads as architecture against a wall or fence and draws hummingbirds and butterflies. Of garden origin, not native to North America, and notoriously prone to rust, which is its defining maintenance demand.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Clematis (hybrid)

Clematis

The classic large-flowered garden clematis - represented here by the iconic Jackman hybrid (Clematis x jackmanii), a deciduous twining vine bred in England in 1858 and still the benchmark for the group. It carries an abundance of showy, four-sepaled violet-purple flowers 5 to 7 inches across from mid summer, climbing 7 to 10 feet on a trellis, arbor, or fence. The classic gardener rule applies: roots in cool shade, flowers in the sun.

Perennial

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Verbascum thapsus

Common mullein

Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is a dramatic, architectural biennial native across Europe, Asia, and North Africa (POWO, Kew) and now naturalised almost worldwide. In its first year it forms a large, flat ground-rosette of big, soft, felted, silvery-grey woolly leaves; in its second year it sends up a tall, stout, woolly flowering spike densely set with soft-yellow five-petalled flowers, then sets seed and dies. It is an unmistakable vertical exclamation point for hot, dry, poor, or stony soil in full sun. Honest caveat: it self-seeds prolifically and is a widespread naturalised weed across North America and elsewhere (listed as noxious in some places), so site it only where seedlings are welcome and deadhead to control spread. Bees collect pollen from the flowers and goldfinches take the seed.

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.

Clematis (hybrid)

Clematis

The classic large-flowered garden clematis - represented here by the iconic Jackman hybrid (Clematis x jackmanii), a deciduous twining vine bred in England in 1858 and still the benchmark for the group. It carries an abundance of showy, four-sepaled violet-purple flowers 5 to 7 inches across from mid summer, climbing 7 to 10 feet on a trellis, arbor, or fence. The classic gardener rule applies: roots in cool shade, flowers in the sun.

Perennial

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is a dramatic, architectural biennial native across Europe, Asia, and North Africa (POWO, Kew) and now naturalised almost worldwide. In its first year it forms a large, flat ground-rosette of big, soft, felted, silvery-grey woolly leaves; in its second year it sends up a tall, stout, woolly flowering spike densely set with soft-yellow five-petalled flowers, then sets seed and dies. It is an unmistakable vertical exclamation point for hot, dry, poor, or stony soil in full sun. Honest caveat: it self-seeds prolifically and is a widespread naturalised weed across North America and elsewhere (listed as noxious in some places), so site it only where seedlings are welcome and deadhead to control spread. Bees collect pollen from the flowers and goldfinches take the seed.

The towering cottage-garden classic - rigid flower spires rise 5 to 8 feet, clothed top to bottom in showy funnel-shaped blooms of white, pink, and red from June to August. A short-lived perennial usually grown as a biennial or self-seeding "annual," it reads as architecture against a wall or fence and draws hummingbirds and butterflies. Of garden origin, not native to North America, and notoriously prone to rust, which is its defining maintenance demand.

A tall native perennial wildflower of moist meadows and woodland edges across eastern North America, producing large domed clusters of vanilla-scented pink-purple flowers in late summer - among the most reliable late-season nectar sources for monarchs, swallowtails, skippers, and native bees. Formerly classified as Eupatorium purpureum.

A long-lived native perennial of central and eastern US woodland borders and prairie meadows with deep blue pea-shaped flowers in late spring, blue-green leguminous foliage, attractive black seed pods for winter interest, and a nitrogen-fixing root system (Fabaceae). Larval host for 6 documented butterfly species per NC State (orange sulphur, clouded sulphur, frosted elfin, eastern tailed-blue, hoary edge, wild indigo duskywing) - among the highest Lep-host-count perennials in the eastern flora.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

An architectural, branching perennial grown for the metallic steel-blue flush it takes on in summer: small, egg-shaped flowerheads, each ringed by a collar of spiny, silvery-blue bracts, are held on rigid, blue-tinted stems above a basal rosette of leathery, heart-shaped leaves. It is a tough, genuinely drought-tolerant plant for hot, dry, sharply drained, even poor sandy or gravelly soil in full sun - it resents rich, wet ground, where it rots and flops - which makes it ideal for gravel gardens and coastal, seaside plantings, and one of the best long-lasting cut and dried flowers. At the height of summer it is a magnet for bees, butterflies, and hoverflies. It is grown purely as an ornamental and is not eaten.

Educator packet

Plant packet

Cape bugle-lily educator packet

A tall, statuesque, winter-growing cormous perennial from the winter-rainfall fynbos of South Africa's Western Cape, grown for its bold fans of upright sword leaves and branched spikes of pink (to white) tubular flowers in late spring. Known as the Cape bugle-lily, it is a striking fynbos geophyte that flowers profusely the season after a fire. Honesty (load-bearing): it is a TALL plant, 4 to 6 feet in flower, and it is WINTER-GROWING and SUMMER-DORMANT - it grows through autumn and winter, flowers in late spring, then dies back and rests dry through summer, so you water it from autumn to spring and keep it dry and at rest in summer; watering it through a hot summer rots the corm. It is FROST-TENDER to borderline (RHS rates it about H3-H4): in cold-winter areas grow it in a warm, sheltered, sharply-drained spot or a large pot, or lift and store the dormant corms. It wants FULL SUN and well-drained soil and the room its height needs. In the wild it is FIRE-ADAPTED, flowering en masse the season after a fynbos fire. The corms are inedible. It is bird-pollinated, worked by sunbirds (and butterflies) along with long-tongued flies - described in the prose, since it is grown as an ornamental rather than for any crop.

Scientific name

Watsonia borbonica

Plant type

perennial

Hardiness

8b-10b

Light

full-sun

Moisture

moderate

Spacing

12 inches