Tiger flower

Tigridia pavonia, commonly called tiger flower, is a tender cormous perennial native to Mexico and Guatemala and grown for its striking, short-lived blooms. Each flower has three broad outer tepals and a richly mottled central cup, giving the plant a graphic, almost hand-painted look that reads very differently from more typical summer bulbs.

Individual flowers usually open for just one day, but healthy clumps produce a steady relay of buds, so the plant can stay interesting for weeks in midsummer and late summer. The foliage is narrow and blade-like, and the flowering stems rise lightly above it rather than forming a dense mass.

Tiger flower performs best in full sun with warm soil, good drainage, and regular moisture while actively growing. In cooler climates it is often treated like a lifted summer bulb, especially where winter wet or hard freezes would threaten the corms.

Because the blooms are open and structurally simple, they can be visited by daytime pollinators, though the floral display is more about succession than persistence. In design terms, Tigridia brings a brief but memorable flare of tropical-looking color and pattern to small sunny pockets, containers, and front-of-border placements.