Common Name: spring starflower
Type: Bulb
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Zone: 5 to 9
Height: 0.25 to 0.50 feet
Spread: 0.25 to 0.50 feet
Bloom Time: April
Bloom Description: Pink
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Naturalize
Flower: Showy, Fragrant, Good Cut
Leaf: Fragrant
Tolerate: Clay Soil, Black Walnut
Culture
Easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Wide range of soil tolerance. Plant bulbs 2-3” deep and space 2-4” apart in fall. Naturalizes rapidly by bulb offsets and self-seeding, and is considered to be one of the easiest bulbs to grow. Plants go dormant by late spring.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Ipheion uniflorum, commonly called spring starflower, is native to Argentina and Uruguay and features grass-like foliage and solitary star-shaped flowers on 6” tall stems in early spring. Each bulb produces multiple flowering stems. Flowers range in color from almost white to violet blue. Flowers have a mild spicy fragrance, and the foliage when bruised emits an oniony aroma.
Synonymous with and formerly known as Triteleia uniflora.
Genus name origin is unclear.
Specific epithet means one flower.
'Charlotte Bishop' was grown from a chance seedling of Ipheion 'Wisley Blue'. It has star-shaped, six-petaled, lightly fragrant flowers that vary from light pink to dark pink with a darker line of color down the center line of the petal. It is not certain whether the color variation is due to temperature, natural variation within the cultivar or the propagation of seedlings which do not retain the color of the parent plant. 'Charlotte Bishop' grows 0.25 to 0.5 ft. tall and wide.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses
Mass in border fronts or rock gardens, along walks or paths, in semi-wild areas or under trees or in front of shrubs. Also can be naturalized in lawns.