Being a native African perennial plant, Lily of the Nile is a good choice to grow in pots even in some regions of the USA. It is a medicinal plant that can be poisonous to humans.
It takes almost 2.5 to 3 years to bloom its flowers the first time.
Let's understand how to propagate lily of the Nile in pots at home and how to take care of them throughout the year.
Growing Lily of the Nile(Agapanthus) in pots
There is another name for the Lily of the Nile plant; Agapanthus, love flower, etc. The lily of the Nile plant has long and green leaves that produce flowers every 2 to 3 years. These plants are not good for humans directly even if they have some medical advantages.
It has only a few varieties of flowers but the most common flowers are purple and pinkish that grow at the tail of a thin long stem of the plant.
The overall plant leaves incline towards the ground and flowers bloom towards the sky distinctly from the leaves.
Season of growing Lily of the Nile
Although it can grow in cool to warm climates in the USA still, the most preferred climate is a warm climate to peak the lily of the Nile.
The best time to grow lily of the Nile at home is in pots in late spring or early summer.
Requirement to grow
The following are the basic requirements to grow Lily of the Nile in pots at home-
- Containers required
Lily of the Nile needs deep and slightly bigger pots to grow and propagate at home. You can't grow them in plastic bags or small movable containers at home.
It needs stable and long-term containers or pots to grow.
Initially, you can keep the pot's depth above 4 to 5 inches but for later stages, you need to expand it more than 16 inches deep. With the later growth of the plant, you need deeper and slightly bigger pots.
- Material required
You don't need any additional materials to grow lily of the Nile but some organic compost, soil, sand, and water.
Apart from organic materials, you don't need any herbicides or pesticides in your pots in ordinary conditions.
For Lily of the Nile, you need to prepare a soil mixture in your garden with a ratio of 1:1:1:1 of garden soil, sand, compost, and coco-peat respectively.
- Soil type and nature
Mostly, you can grow it with any type of soil by fertilizing it but you get better results in loamy soil.
More acidic or alkali soil is not suitable for the lily of the Nile.
- Tools required
You don't need big or complex tools for the garden of lily of the Nile. You can keep small cultivation tools, weed-picking tools, spray bottles, and a few wooden sticks or rods to provide support in some cases.
- Selection of seeds
Choosing pure seeds of lily of the Nile may help in warm climates but in cool regions of the USA, you need hybrid seeds that can handle the cold and winters in a difficult situation.
I suggest you have high-quality seeds either from your market or your neighbors.
- Sunlight and temperature
Lily of the Nile plants loves to be in direct sunlight for a reason. It is always better to keep and let them grow in ordinary sunlight either in summer or winter.
It can handle temperatures up to 90 F in summer easily and with low temperatures below 60 F, you need some arrangements to maintain the growth.
It can be in partial shade in the afternoon period. But keeping the plants in shade or dark for a long time may not help their growth rate.
Guide to propagate lily of the Nile
The following steps will help you to grow and propagate lily of the Nile at home in pots-
To grow Lily of the Nile at home in pots, you need small containers as you need for nursery plants.
Step 1- Prepare a soil mixture as I suggested above. Mix it well and spray some water to keep the moisture in the growing season. Fill the freshly prepared soil mixture in the nursery pots. Don't overfill the containers.
Step 2- Put every single seed you want to grow. Don't pinch them too deep or they will take too much time to germinate. Then, spray some water and keep the containers in the sunlight for at least 7 to 8 hours a day. After 15 to 20 days, the seeds will start to germinate.
Step 3- You don't need to disturb the initial growth of plants by spraying unnecessary water and fertilizers. When these sprouts become small plants about 4 to 5 inches, you can transplant them in bigger pots.
Step 4- To transplant the lily of the Nile small plants, this time, you need to prepare a different mixture for further growth. You can take 2:2:1 ratio of garden soil, compost, and sand and mix that well at a place. Remember, you need a huge amount of the soil mixture this time so don't hesitate if things become slightly difficult to handle.
Step 5- Fill this mixture in the bigger pots and keep ready your small lily of the Nile plants for transplantation. Wet the plants and their associated soil so that you can pick them up with soil easily.
Step 6- Now, use a small cultivator tool and dig slightly deeper than every lily of the Nile plant root depth. Don't break the plants or roots, and carefully transplant them into the soil. After transplantation, cover the roots and stem portion just above the ground level.
Step 7- Now, you can spray water in the end and let the plants grow in sunlight.
Step 8- Don't worry about the flower blooming and the appearance of flower buds on the plants, they take the time up to 3 years.
Caring Lily of the Nile
Care in summer
I'm sure you are confused about its care in the hot region summer season. So let me do my job and guide you here by following tips and care-
- Yes, these plants indeed need direct sunlight in the day but during the afternoon period, intense sunlight is not very helpful. If moisture is not enough in the soil then too much intense sunlight may dry your plant leaves.
- Don't consume these plant leaves or flowers even a single leaf can harm you inside your body.
- Irrigate your plants regularly in summer. The morning or evening both times are good for irrigation in hot summer.
- Use dark black decomposed organic compost for fertilization. You can fertilize your plants every 3 months. At the time of flower blooming, you can shorten this and increase fertilization.
- If possible, then aerate your soil if it is resting for a very long period. The best time to aerate your plant soil is fall.
Care in Winter
In winter, you need some arrangements if it is due at night and the temperature is falling very low drastically. The following steps can help you in winter to care lily of the Nile plants-
- Shift the entire pot indoors if you have enough space. Don't keep these plants in dark or partial light. Keep the plants in light as much as possible.
- If you can't shift them indoors or pots are too heavy and there is a chance of pot breaking, you can use winter plant blankets to cover the plants. Winterization of plants helps to keep the plants alive and slows down the effect of winter on the plants.
- Don't try to fertilize or irrigate with too cold water in winter. Don't warm the water either.
- To keep plants' roots safe, moisture restricted, and keep the plants safe, you can mulch your lily of the Nile with dry leaves.