Triteleia laxa ‘Silver Queen’, White Brodiaea

This familiar species traditionally has blue-purple, trumpet-shaped flowers perched in whorls atop stalks up to a foot tall. We now have a selection featuring soft white flowers. Silver Queen has delicate star-shaped, silver-white flowers with steely grey stripes on the petals, which flare out, giving each flower a starry appearance. It looks striking planted in drifts.

This native bulb sends up grass-like foliage in the winter followed by the charming flowers in spring and early summer. The bulbs multiply readily, forming small colonies over time. While it tolerates dry conditions in summer, it will also accept occasional irrigation, making it very useful in the garden. Enjoys full sun to light shade and will tolerate clay soil.

Considered dependable and easy to grow, triteleias make fantastic cut flowers and are attractive to pollinating insects. On top of this, they produce little in the way of foliage, so are great for growing through other plants without shading them out too much.