Plant Doctor Archive

Poorly xeronema

HOW can I get my Poor Knights lily to flower? It's growing in a bucket and is about seven years old. I've thought about putting some seawater on it, but couldn't bring myself to do it.

THEY can be slow to flower and, even once they start, they sometimes miss a year or produce many more flowers one year than another.

You can throw some seawater on it if you want - it shouldn't do any harm. But don't overdo it. Allow it to get absolutely pot-bound in the bucket and don't fertilise it at all. Hold back on the water unless it gets bone dry. So, in effect, ignore it and eventually it will flower. You'll just have to be patient, it shouldn't take much longer!

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH.