Freesia alba x Freesia leichtlinii Freesia
I remember as a child being shown a bunch of beautiful fragrant flowers and asking what they were. They were Freesias I was told - very special, quite expensive and they don't grow wild in Britain. I remember marvelling at how quickly a small vase of flowers can make a large room fragrant quickly as well as having delicate pastel shaded blooms. My memories of this flower were all good ones.
What a surprise then to find that a flower I regarded as so special is a South Africa introduction (a garden escape usually) and an absolute pest in several regions of Australia. In Tasmania we came across this (LHS photo) huge display when stopping to look at a Banksia on a roadside verge and in what is regarded as very early Spring too.
In Western Australia it has established itself in the wild and naturally there is more of it to be found near the built up areas. In the famous King's Park (Perth) this hybrid Freesia infests the bush margins with thousands of plants and it can reproduce very effectively by corms or seed. It's still beautiful but it looks wrong and quite out of place.
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| Freesia alba x Freesia leichtlinii Freesia | Freesia alba x Freesia leichtlinii Freesia |
LHS: Dark Hollow Creek, Scamander, Tasmania 5th Sept 07 RHS: Wireless Hill Park, Perth 24th August 2007
Added on 7th March 2012