Monday, September 09, 2013

Lycoris

One of my favorite plants is a plant called Lycoris, more commonly in these latitudes, spider lilly, or pop-up lilly.  It propogates from a bulb and the care of the plants is simple.  You stick them in the ground, and when they get ready, they bloom.  The most common variety is the red lycoris, and we have them planted everywhere the soil will support them.  The red variety is called Higanbana in certain parts of the world.

Several years ago, my daugter-in-law told me that she knew where there were a white variety, and we had permission to dig a few bulbs.  Spider lily bulbs propogate at a terrific rate and people often share bulbs to thin the herd.  We went and dug a few, and I planted them along my fence, and promptly forgot about them, because they need no special treatment.  They bloom when they will, normally in September, and if you leave them alone, they'll do fine.  They really like mowed grass, and after they've bloomed you can mow right over them.

Today I came home and was piddling around the yard, and I was surprised to see white spider lilies popping up along the fence row.

I won't mow there until they are finished blooming.  I planted half-a-dozen bulbs along that fence line, and I'll be interested to see how many come up.  Aren't they lovely?  I"ve never seen white spider lilies.

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