Albuca Spiralis ~ Frizzle Sizzle Care Guide & Species Spotlight - Corkscrew Albuca

The good news is this amazing looking plant is very easy to look after - the bad news is if you just fell in love and want to buy one, in the UK at least - ya can’t! Because as far as I can tell this guy is the very last one! Certainly on the interwebs, no more, all gone! I even checked on the Dutch grower's website, not that you can buy from those guys they only sell wholesale to garden centres and shops but they don't have any either so as far as I can tell these are impossible to get hold of, now there may be a garden centre somewhere that doesn’t have a website that still has one or two left somewhere but they don’t tend to hold onto the stock for very long so if you see one grab it quick! Because at least for now there certainly seems to be a shortage. Hopefully, they will be available again at some stage. Now if you do have one of these be sure to watch until the care tips because there is an unusual character trait with these guys that could mean you throw away a perfectly healthy houseplant so stay tuned!
So the Albuca Spiralis originates from South Africa as many houseplants do, I will be going to South Africa as soon as we’re allowed to travel again so hopefully, I can show you some of our favourite houseplants in their native habitat that would be cool wouldn’t it!
This one comes from the Western Cape which gives us a clue to their growing conditions, it doesn’t get too cold there in the winter probably 15c but doesn’t get very humid either with highs of maybe 27c in Summer the climate is similar to that of the Mediterranean so you won’t see the scorching African temperatures like you can do further inland or the tropical conditions of eastern parts in Kwazulu Natal for example.
The flower spikes can grow quite long and the flowers actually have a really sweet fragrance that I can smell already and they haven’t even opened fully yet.
So in the UK and Europe you can grow this outside in summer as long as it stays above 15c and maybe keep it out of the direct sun all day to avoid leaf scorching but otherwise it will be happy in a bright sunny position, it will be happy inside too but don’t keep it in the shade as it may lose its frizzy spirally shapes.
Propagation is by division of offsets, so as it gets mature smaller plants will grow from the base and when repotting every few years or so you can remove the offsets to gain more plants.
Now - this is what you need to be aware of if you have one of these or are looking to buy one, once the flowers are done if the foliage starts to turn yellow and die back don’t worry, all the spiral foliage could die back in the summer and you could be left with just the bulbs in the soil, this is normal and it’s going into its dormancy period and unlike many houseplants that do this in the winter the Albuca does it in the summer and comes back to life in the winter, so don’t throw it in the trash whatever you do! It’s still most likely fine and healthy, just having a rest! Leave it to one side somewhere you can keep an eye on it and in a few months’ time, it will burst back into life with fountains of spirals once again!