What cut flowers are in season in Spring in South Africa
“Blossom by blossom, the spring begins” — Algernon Charles Swinburne
Spring brings with it a riot of colour and fragrance, as the earth awakens from it’s slumber. Spring can surprise us in South Africa, but bring warm and sunny one day, followed by snow the next.
Nevertheless, we can count on the bounty of nature to bring colour and beauty into our world in spring. The availability of spring flowers has always been quite good in South Africa. BUT there is often a short period between the cutover from Autumn to Winter/Spring flowers and the cutover from Spring to Summer, which is totally dependent on the weather – and during this period, flowers of all kinds are more scarce than usual. And only the real stalwarts are available. The past year summer came early in the Western Cape and it looks like it’s early again in 2025 – which means the spring flowering bulbs stop flowering earlier than usual – they are impacted by soil temperatures and ambient temperatures, preferring cooler weather for flowering. So this means some spring flowers will not be available as late into the year as they often are.
“You can cut all the flowers, but you cannot keep spring from coming” — Pablo Neruda.
Note: The list is not exhaustive, and there are also other flowers that grow in spring time but that might generally not be sold as cut flowers due to their fragility or inability to be stored and/or transported to flower markets. Flowers that are typically available on import have been left out, but this changes all the time as flower farms adapt their range.
CUT FLOWERS AVAILABLE IN SPRING (AUGUST TO OCTOBER):
- Alstromeria
- Amaryllis in pots
- Anemone
- Anthuriums
- Asters – large and small chinese asters
- Arum lilies (largely Western Cape based) and potted coloured arums or zantedeschia
- Asiatic lilies – often called day lilies or tiger lilies, which they are not, but closely resemble
- Banksia – protea family
- Blushing brides
- Carnations & mini carnations
- Carthamus
- Celosia
- Chinks or Chincherinchees
- Chrysanthemums – spray and singles
- Craspedia
- Cymbidium orchids
- Daffodils (short season)
- Delphiniums
- Ericas or Heathers
- Foxgloves – towards summer
- Freesias
- Gerberas
- Gladiolus – but scarce as more summer flowering
- Golden rod
- Green trix dianthus
- Gypsophila – more expensive in winter
- Hypericum berries
- Iris
- Irish bells
- Kale
- Kol kol or berzelia
- Lace flower
- Larkspurs
- Latifolia/Limonium
- Leucadendron
- Lisianthus – but scarce as more summer flowering
- Lysimachia
- Marigold
- Matricaria or feverfew
- Monte Casino or Michaelmas daisy
- Nigella – towards summer
- Oriental lilies – large like Casablanca and Stargazers
- Peonies – towards start of summer – mid to late October
- Pin Cushions
- Poppies
- Proteas
- Ranunculus
- Rice flower
- Roses & spray roses – but expensive as often from neighbouring countries
- Sea Holly
- Silver Brunia
- Snapdragons
- Statice
- Stocks
- St Joseph lilies – the trumpet shaped white lilies
- Strelitzias
- Sunflowers
- Sweet peas – for a short season
- Sweet william dianthus
- Tulips
- Waratahs – towards early summer
- Watsonias – Western Cape
- Wax flower