Nerines put on late show
THE annual Nerine Festival has got under way in Candie Gardens.
The event has been moved to the upper greenhouse for this year as the lower one is closed for repair.
In November last year, Plant Heritage Guernsey was awarded National Plant Collection status for its Guernsey nerine collection.
The festival is always hugely popular and hundreds of people traditionally attend, including some from overseas. Members of the Nerine and Amaryllid Society from the UK will be among the visitors.
Organiser Rose Rankilor said nerines were late blooming this year because we have yet to get a cold spell to bring them on.
‘Because of that, we have brought varieties here that people would not normally see as they should have finished blooming,’ she said.
More than 150 varieties are on display, with some for sale.
Nerine sarniensis, or Guernsey lily as it is more commonly known, was a show-piece, but the collection was about hundreds of other cultivars too. While people associated the Guernsey lily with being red, smelling of chocolate and having gold specks in sunlight, there were pink, white and orange varieties too.
The Guernsey lily was the first nerine to be cultivated in Europe, reportedly in Paris in 1630.
Mrs Rankilor said that while some people managed to grow nerines in gardens, they did not like the cold and wet of winter.
‘They don’t need heat, but they need to be frost free,’ she said.
For that reason, many people grew them in conservatories, including festival visitor, Gillian Burford, retired.
‘I just like nerines,’ she said. ‘I started by buying a red one many years ago and it just went from there. I now have five pots from that one red one. I put some in the garden due to a shortage of space and they have survived but I usually keep them in the greenhouse and bring them into the conservatory when they bloom.
‘I have a lot of nerines. I come here every year with the intention of not buying anymore but I always find something that I haven’t got.’
n The festival is open from 10am to 4pm daily up to and including Saturday 20 October. Admission is free.
