How to grow nerines

Choosing a nerine

• If you have a sunny, warm spot and well-drained soil in your garden, the hardy Nerine bowdenii will grow and flower well in these conditions as temperatures drop in mid September to late October. This species and its cultivars are the most commonly sold nerines.
• Consider growing Nerine undulata Flexuosa Group outdoors too, but as it flowers in November to December, it's more at risk from weather damage, so it's best suited to warmer gardens (such as those in cities) or grown in pots and overwintered in a greenhouse or conservatory
• Tender nerines such as the scarlet-flowered Nerine sarniensis (the Guernsey lily) and its cultivars, are ideal for cool greenhouse display, flowering in late autumn. But as a species that hails from the mountainous region of the Cape, it doesn't want to bake in summer above around 30^oC ideally.

Buying nerines 

More indepth information

When to plant nerines

Where to plant nerine

• For hardy nerine such as Nerine bowdenii, pick a warm, sheltered spot such as a bed near a sunny wall in well-draining soil that retains moisture. 
• Grow frost-tender nerines such as Nerine sarniensis (Guernsey lily) in pots as these will need to be moved inside for winter and outside for summer or shaded to reduce scorching temperatures

How to plant nerine

Watering

In the garden (hardy species and their cultivars)

If you plant Nerine bowdenii at the base of a wall, they can be shielded from rain and become overly dry, so  watering once a week during dry weather through the growing season (April to July). The best indicator to stop watering is when the foliage naturally dies back in summer.

Pot-grown nerines (tender species and their cultivars)

Begin watering pot-grown nerine as soon as their flower spikes emerge in autumn. Increase frequency as the flowers and then the foliage develop, but allow the surface to dry between waterings. Check regularly as the surface can become dry quickly during warm weather. You can stop watering your nerines in pots when the leaves turn yellow and begin die down in late summer.

Feeding 

Deadheading

Unless you fancy raising some new plants from seed, deadhead the flowers after they have finished, so that the nerine’s energy is used to build the bulb for next year’s flowering, rather than for seed production.

Overwintering

Nerine bowdenii planted in the garden require no special treatment overwinter. 
For tender species such as Nerine sarniensis (Guernsey lily), once nights get colder in autumn, move pots of into a cool greenhouse for the winter. They will need a minimum temperature of 7°C (45°F) as the bulbs rot away at lower temperatures.

Division

Seed

Chipping