How do I grow white Agapathus from seed? They seem to always grow blue!

by Nigel cross
(Lincolnshire, England)

White Agapanthus

How do I grow White Agapathus from seed? They seem to always grow blue!

Comments for How do I grow white Agapathus from seed? They seem to always grow blue!

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Genetics
by: Jacki Cammidge, Certified Horticulturist

Genetically, the blue color of Agapanthus is dominant. The white form is a recessive trait, which will only show up with two seed parents that both have white flowers in their background.

This means that if each the pollen and the seed parents have a white flowered parent, you have much more chance of having the seeds produce white flowered plants.

However, this is a long term prospect.

You would need to grow the seedlings for quite a while to see if you've been successful in creating a white flowered strain.

The plants take two to three years (at least) to flower, making it a much more drawn out process than just buying a white flowered Agapanthus and doing division on it.

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