Dichelostemma ida-maia

Dichelostemma ida-maia, the Californian Firecracker or Firecracker Flower, is a bulbous perennial with very distinctive and stunningly attractive crimson tubular flowers that hang down in large clusters, the green tips opening as pale cream reflexed tepals with cream anthers. It is a startlingly unusual and eye-catching bloom and it is immediately obvious - both from the colour and the shape - how it get its Firecracker name. A Californian native wildflower, it grows on well-drained soils on coastal meadows and grasslands, in mixed evergreen and redwood forests, at the margins of woods and in forest openings up into lower and mid-elevations of the western slopes of the mountains, its range extending from the coast and Klamath Ranges north into Southwest Oregon. The flowers appear from May onwards usually lasting until late June or early July. The stems are tall and slender and often become floppy under the weight of the pendulous flowers so the bulbs are best planted in close groups or amongst other medium-height perennials so that the stems have some support. Once flowering has finished, Dichelostemma ida-maia needs a summer dormancy period and all watering should stop, a well-drained soil greatly assisting this process.

A showy and unique flower, Dichelostemma ida-maia, is an easy and undemanding species and deserves to be more widely planted. 

Highly recommmended.