Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa)

by Alan Titchmarsh

If you’d been around in Victorian times, you’d be very familiar with the tuberose  (Polianthes tuberosa) since it was a very popular flowering bulb at the time, grown in posh china pots in conservatories or living rooms that didn’t benefit from much heating.

The upright spikes of rather waxy, almost artificial-looking flowers are certainly attractive but the tuberose’s chief reason for being is its scent. Think of double strength gardenia with hints of jasmine and lemon – some people also claim to catch a faint whiff of green tea but that’s stretching it a bit far for me.

Like so many Victorian favourites, the tuberose fell out of fashion as newer and more colourful flowers came along, but it’s not vanished without trace. Bulbs do still appear occasionally on racks at garden centres in spring, and they’re sometimes available from catalogues (such as T&M’s spring plant catalogue www.thompson-morgan.com 0844 573 2020).

Originally from Mexico, the plants are not quite hardy, so plant five bulbs now in a large pot or small tub of John Innes No.2 potting compost, and start them into growth on a windowsill indoors. When the shoots show through, you can move them out to a cold greenhouse or unheated conservatory to grow – they need plenty of light but not over-strong midday sun, and moderate watering, plus a weak dose of liquid tomato feed every week or ten days.

They’ll reach roughly two feet high by the time the spikes start flowering. Bulbs planted now will flower in August/ September; another year buy several batches and plant them at one month intervals from January onwards so they flower in succession starting in June.

Don’t bother keeping the old bulbs, it’s the very devil to get them to flower again – throw ‘em out after they’ve flowered and buy another set next year. Oh it’s an indulgence I grant you; but if you love powerful flower scent, you’ll find it’s worth it.

The same stuff in a bottle to dab behind your ears would set you back the thick end of £60.