Eucomis zambesiaca - White Pineapple Lily
The pineapple lily gets its name from the tuft of small green leaves sitting on top of each flower spike, which does look like a pineapple. Eucomis zambesiaca is the compact white species: a short green spike packed with starry white flowers, unspotted, rising from a rosette of broad strappy leaves. It flowers January to March and the spike stays presentable long after the flowers fade.
Being small makes it a container plant first. Grow it in a pot on a step where the spike can be seen close up, or plant a group at the front of a sunny border. It suits subtropical-style planting and gravel gardens, and the spikes last a long time in water.
Plant the bulb with its neck at soil level in full sun and very free-draining, humus-rich soil. Winter wet rots it, so a pot is often the safer option. This is a tender bulb by New Zealand standards: it grows outdoors year round only in warm sheltered coastal gardens, and elsewhere it needs a container moved under cover for winter, or lifting and storing dry. Leaves die back in autumn.
Reaches around 0.25 to 0.3 m in flower with a leaf rosette 0.3 m across.
Trimming: Cut the flower spike off at the base once it browns, or leave it for the seed capsules. Let the leaves yellow and die back naturally in autumn, then clear them, since the bulb feeds itself through that process.
Deadheading: Not needed. The spike ages slowly and holds its shape, and many gardeners keep it standing well past flowering.
Fertilising: Feed with a balanced liquid fertiliser every two or three weeks from spring until the flowers open, particularly in containers. Stop once the leaves start to yellow.
Watering: Water freely while in growth from spring to late summer, then reduce sharply as the foliage dies down and keep the bulb almost dry through winter. Wet dormant bulbs rot.
Pest Control: Slugs and snails chew the emerging leaves and the developing spike, which spoils the display, so bait or trap early. Mealybugs can hide in the leaf bases of container plants.
Disease Management: Bulb rot from winter wet is the main problem and is prevented by drainage and dry dormancy rather than treated. Watch for soft brown patches at the base when repotting.
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