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Silky Purple Flag

Patersonia sericea

Silky Purple Flag
Photo: Macleay Grass Man, CC BY 2.0

Silky purple flag is a tufted, grass-like perennial with violet flowers that open one day at a time, native to eastern Australia. It is reliable in gardens that are hot and dry, and tolerates light frost.

Family
Iridaceae (Iris family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then reduce; it tolerates dry conditions once settled.
Soil
Well-drained sandy or sandstone-derived soil.
Temperature
Tolerates frost and hot dry summers; protect from heavy frost in cold climates.
How easy
Easy
Native range
E. Australia
Climate
subtropical

About

Patersonia sericea, commonly known as purple flag or silky purple-flag is a species of plant in the iris family Iridaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a densely-tufted perennial herb with linear, sword-shaped leaves, broadly egg-shaped, bluish-violet tepals and an oval capsule.

How to grow it

It is a reliable species in cultivation, thriving in hot, dry situations and is also frost tolerant. It is useful grown en masse in a bed of perennial plants.

Where it grows

Purple flag (var. longifolia) grows in open forest and heath on the coast and ranges on soils derived from sandstone, from the Hunter River in New South Wales to the Genoa River in far north-eastern Victoria.

Other Patersonia plants

Patersonia argyrea · Patersonia babianoides · Patersonia borneensis · Patersonia drummondii · Short Purple Flag · Leafy Purple Flag · Patersonia graminea · Patersonia inaequalis · Rush Leaved Patersonia · Woolly Patersonia · Patersonia limbata · Patersonia macrantha

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Patersonia sericea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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