A big brother of our common Star-of-Bethlehem, Ornithogalum saundersiae, a stalwart South African Giant Chincherinchee, furnishes one of summer's most striking sights. Plant a big group of the bulbs in spring, and by August you'll be marveling at the display of 3-4ft spikes of starry white flowers rising up from rosettes of sword-shaped foliage. Elegant in containers, it is also a long-lasting cut flower.

Ornithogalum is a genus of plants belonging to the family Hyacinthaceae and consists of more than 100 species of bulbous herbs, native to South Africa and around the Mediterranean.