Blog by Brenda Altman, UC Master Gardener  

Fragrant freesias are a sure sign of spring. Freesias are a flowering bulb plant native to South Africa. The bulbs are fuzzy and teardrop-shaped and 1” high.  The plants grow about a foot high and develop fingerlike flower stems which open and produce six petals surrounding six anthers.  They come in many colors: red, yellow, white, lavender, orange, and purple.  When I smell the flowers, each color seems to have its own special fragrance.  I prefer the white freesia scent. Put together in a bouquet, they will fill a room with a spring-like like soft, delicate fragrance.

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Freesias will come back every year if you live in an area where you get a hard frost every year.  It would be wise to take the bulbs out of the ground to overwinter, since they don’t grow very high, plant them in front of taller flowers like daffodils and paperwhites.  Of course, you can plant them indoors and enjoy them as they blossom earlier than they would outside. 

One nice thing about freesias is that they are not toxic to pets. 

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Freesias are: pollinator friendly; non-toxic to pets; showy; super fragrant, and easy to grow. 

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