Leopard Squill
HYACINTHACEAE/LILIACEAE, The Hyacinth or Lily family

Tonight I visited Annie and Dan and got to experience their patio paradise. Dan’s plant collection takes up a lot of it. A whole garden is stacked into a narrow space with evergreen shrubs in hanging baskets, and lots of exotic treasures rubbing elbows in containers. There is a Fatsia with silver patterning, Farfugium crispum, an interesting Rhamnus, a pretty Barberry, Carex ‘Sparkler’, Hakonechloa grass, a beautiful Echeveria and lots of flats of Sempervirens, Jovibarba and many other things I can’t remember right now.

One of the fanciest plants was the leopard squill. It has interestingly purple-spotted leaves and spires of orchid-like little flowers in spring. It grows just 5″ tall and makes a good greenhouse plant or houseplant. In areas where it is hardy it can be grown in the rock garden or somewhere it can be appreciated up close. It likes bright, indirect light and is hardy to zone 9. Ledebouria cooperi has striped instead of spots and is a bit hardier (zone 8 or 9, depending on who you ask).

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