This bulb is best suited to a pot display or in an arid rockery and when planted en masse provides a wonderful plate of colour for the spring garden. A winter-growing geophyte, it can be grown in pots to transform a dull courtyard, or the pots can be sunk into the ground in garden beds. Seed can also be broadcast in a secluded bed or rockery and will provide a carpet of lavender blue in the spring.

Geissorhiza aspera can be grown from seed: sow in autumn, from April to May. Seeds are best sown in a mix of 3 parts river sand to 1 part fine, acid compost or finely milled pine bark. Keep the medium moist but not wet and treat with a fungicide if damping off occurs. Corms are planted in the autumn months into pots 15-20 cm in diameter and approximately twice their height. An acid medium is recommended, one that is well drained and will dry out completely in the hot summer months. During the growing season pots can be watered every 10 days, however, as the summer progresses this must be reduced and stopped once plant growth has ceased. Containers should be stored in a cool dry place until the following autumn. Should you plant the corms directly into a flower bed, choose a mole-proof bed, alternatively plant them in a wire basket that can be lifted after the growing season.

Pests of Geissorhiza aspera include thrips and aphids which cause damage to leaves, aphids also transmit viral diseases. In order to prevent further infection of your plants, diseased plants should be removed and burnt. Spraying with a selective insecticide for thrips or aphids can help combat an outbreak of these pests and a spread of viral infections. Slugs and snails are common pests to seedlings and the leaves of young bulbs; a light application of snail bait can solve this. A fungal dry rot can attack the corms too; to prevent this, dust the corms with an antifungal powder and keep in a clean, dry place when storing.