Greetings, Gardener. From our rooted perspective, we observe the world through the need for sunlight, water, and undisturbed growth. When our balance is disrupted, we manifest signs of distress. To understand these ailments is to understand our language. Here is what we, the Nerine bowdenii, wish to convey about the challenges we face in your American gardens.
We feel them first as a slight pressure on our emerging flower scapes and the undersides of our strap-like leaves. Aphids, those tiny soft-bodied insects, cluster together, piercing our tissues to siphon our vital sap. This draining weakens us, causing our beautiful blooms to distort and our foliage to curl and yellow. Often, their feeding leaves behind a sticky residue called honeydew, which attracts sooty mold, further blocking our sunlight absorption. Mealybugs, with their white, cottony masses, target our bulbs at the soil line and our roots, a far more insidious attack that can go unnoticed until we are severely weakened.
Beneath the soil, where we store our energy for the next season, a grave danger can lurk. The Narcissus bulb fly lays its eggs at our base. The hatched larvae, maggots, then burrow into our very core—the bulb. From the inside, they consume our stored nutrients, reducing our firm, healthy bulb to a soft, rotten mush. Above ground, you may see our foliage yellowing prematurely and our growth stunted, but by then, the internal damage is often extensive and fatal.
We are particularly susceptible to a fungal pathogen known as Stagonospora curtisii. To you, it may appear as red spots or blotches on our leaves and flower stalks, which eventually turn yellow and die back from the tips—a condition often called leaf scorch or red blotch. This fungus thrives in the damp, crowded conditions that sometimes occur in gardens. It mars our aesthetic beauty and, more critically, impedes our photosynthesis. Over seasons, it can weaken us significantly, reducing our ability to flower and multiply.
Perhaps the most dreaded ailment from our perspective is basal rot, caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum. It attacks us at our foundation, the base of the bulb and root system. The first sign we give is a general decline—wilting, yellowing leaves that do not recover with watering. Our roots turn brown and brittle, and a pinkish-white fungal growth may appear on the bulb itself. This rot is a death sentence if not caught early, as it severs our connection to the water and nutrients in the soil.
