The tuberoses have been blooming in the garden for a week or so.
When they first started blooming, I actually smelled them before I saw them, which is not surprising since tuberoses are one of the most fragrant flowers you can grow. They produce so much fragrance that farmers plant fields of them that they sell to perfume makers. The sweet scent is most noticeable in the evening.
Tuberoses don’t tolerate cold temperatures so you have to wait until the soil warms up. Because it took so long for the soil to get warm this season, I planted mine around the beginning of June.
They require very little care and don’t mind being neglected for a while.
The grassy-looking leaves on tuberoses are not particularly eye-catching so, you can’t count on the foliage to make a dramatic impact in the landscape. It’s all about the flowers and their aroma. They make excellent cut flowers too.
The individual flowers are about one and one-half inches across.
You can save tuberoses by digging the tubers up before frost. Keep them warm in storage –above 50 degrees F — and dry over winter.
By digging and saving your tuberoses each year, you can quickly build up a large number of tubers to use each year in your garden.
Bob