Striped Auriculas
Striped auriculas have unusual flowers and are fun to grow. The stripes are formed by farina on the coloured petals but sometimes the petals have streaks of different colours in them too which give them the stripy appearance. Considered as part of the ‘Garden auricula’ group, they are usually free-flowering, fairly vigorous plants that multiply rapidly. Some of the cultivars have powdery leaves. They tend to have taller stems than some of the other groups.
Before the edged varieties appeared at the beginning of the 18th century, striped auriculas were were highly prized but as people lost interest they fell out of fashion and were no longer grown. Several growers applied themselves to the task to bring them back to life in the second half of the 20th century and they returned to the show bench in the 1970s.
Flowering period: Mid-spring- early summer.
Height: 10-20 cm
Culture: Well-drained garden borders, pots or troughs.
For more information on growing Striped auriculas please consult our section on Garden auriculas.
