Armorel's Freesia refracta alba
Freesia refracta alba

Another of the little gems that I acquired from the Seed Exchange List of the Royal Horticultural Society Lily Group. It’s easy to grow, prolific, good natured, produces seeds (easy to germinate), multiplies by corms and is just a lovely plant.

Freesia refracta alba is one of the dainty species freesias that were crossbred to produce the blowsy modern day hybrids. This 10 inch pot of about 50 bulbs is roughly 3ft tall to the top of the flowerspike in the left.

It bears the most delicate of blooms – almost translucent white with a variable blob of yellow on the bottom middle petal, like a bee has blundered into it and left a stain of pollen. It also has the sweetest and most delicate of scents – not overpowering but inducing you to sniff it again and again just for the sheer indulgent pleasure of it.