REHMANNIA
(Named for Joseph Rehmann, physician of Petrograd)
Rehmannias are seldom seen in neither gardens nor even in catalogs and yet they are lovely, long, bell-shaped flowers; as lovely as almost any flower of the garden. Rehmannia angulata is really a perennial but, not hardy enough to survive northern winters, it is raised as an annual. The flowers are rosy-purple, over 3 inches long, rather lipped though bell-shaped, produced on long terminal racemes, or else in the axils of the leaves. The flower stems tower 3 feet above the foliage.
Where to Plant. Good cut flowers, they are equally valued in the garden for planting among low annuals, inasmuch as their flower stems then give an unusual display.
GENERAL. Seed should be sown as early as possible, because the larger the plants, the more flower stems may be expected. In greenhouses, the seeds may be sown in February to bloom in July and August; in hotbeds in March, or if sown in May or June, young plants may be raised which can be carried through the Winter in cold frames to start blooming early the next Summer. All plants may be lifted and stored in protected frames for the Winter, or if a greenhouse is available they may be brought into bloom in February and March. When troubled with whitefly, they should be fumigated.
It has a suckering habit and sends up young plants which may be potted for Winter storage.
Information on 50+ annual flowers
