We didn't have much of a wildflower season around here this year because of the drought but, jeez! We only got a little over 2 inches of rain last week but man, oh, man!...there are sooooo many rain lillies blooming! I live between Blanco and Wimberley and I didn't see many fields of blue and red and yellow this year but with that little bit of rain last week, I've been seeing little fields of white everywhere!! Its so beautiful, and rain lillies smell so good! Anyone else enjoying an overabundance of these beauties? I don't think I've ever seen this many of them at one time...and I've lived here for 16 yrs now!
Rain Lillies Everywhere!!
We didn't have that much rain, so probably don't have as many blooming, but we sure are seeing lots of rain lilies! I've got some in my yard blooming that I'd forgotten were even there, then boom, gorgeous knockout blooms in clusters.
We had them last year. No rain this year. We have both the yellow and white ones.
That must be a wonderful sight, we don't have many of them here, I love wildflowers!
From Austin all the way up Hwy 71 to the turn-off to Sunrise Beach, both sides of the highway were covered in little white lillies this weekend. I've never seen that many, but we did have a gully washer last week that probably brought them out.
If you collect the seeds, they are easy to germinate.
I'm guessing these don't bloom well in a garden bed (maybe because the watering is fairly consistant?) I have several in one bed, the foliage is nice in the bed, but they have only bloomed once, ever. I thought that they would certainly bloom after the heavy rain we had last week, but nuthin'... zilch... nada.
to collect seeds...do you wait till the flower head dries?
Maggiemoo-
I've transplanted hundreds of those little guys to my beds. They still seem to know when it is Spring and Fall blooming time. (I don't have a sprinkler system, other than me :0)
They do, however, seem to skip a year or two, once moved. They don't like to be moved, but after a few years, they'll pick up where they left off.
I like them in their natural habit, but my largest patch borders a neighbor, and the neighbor kept over-mowing onto my side, and cutting them down. So, I removed as many as I could closest to the edge, and transplanted them to my beds.
They couldn't bloom being cut down all the time, anyway, so now at least they'll have a better chance, once fully recovered.
That has been two years now, and they did well for me this year.
-T
The seeds need to be collected just as the pod changes from the regular green to a lighter color and starts to split. If you wait till the pod turns brown, the seeds will blow away.
Rain lilies bloom after rain in nature. In the garden with constant moisture, they get confused. Let the area they're planted in get bone dry, then water. They will flower every time! Like Taylor said, they sometimes won't bloom right after being moved.
I have planted rain lillies in my bed which receive supplemental water and the rain lillies bloom for me. I have several types. They are all blooming now except for the yellow blooming ones. Depending upon the type, they bloom at different times of the year. We finally had a good rain at my house last week (after months and months of no rain - supposed to have had rain yesterday, but nary a drop). Within 3 days the white rain lilies I had saved from road construction bloomed as did the pink ones. They are still blooming. I haven't seen this many of the larger white ones blooming in the wild in years and years. They are everywhere. My yellow ones and my pink ones bloom very well without rain. I don't know about the wwhite ones because I planted them last summer so they haven't been in their new homes for a year yet.
I have planted rain lillies in my bed which receive supplemental water and the rain lillies bloom for me. I have several types. They are all blooming now except for the yellow blooming ones. Depending upon the type, they bloom at different times of the year. We finally had a good rain at my house last week (after months and months of no rain - supposed to have had rain yesterday, but nary a drop). Within 3 days the white rain lilies I had saved from road construction bloomed as did the pink ones. They are still blooming. I haven't seen this many of the larger white ones blooming in the wild in years and years. They are everywhere. My yellow ones and my pink ones bloom very well without rain. I don't know about the wwhite ones because I planted them last summer so they haven't been in their new homes for a year yet. This one is my favorite due to the large blooms and the shape of the blooms:
Giant Rain Lily, Prairie Lily, Hill Country Rain Lily (Zephyranthes drummondii)
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/65974/index.html
My Zephyranthes drummondii have yet to bloom but I just added them last year so I am not thinking they will bloom for a while right? Anyway they have loads of big nice green leaves in all but the heat of last summer when they retreated underground.
Thaks Calalilly, I'm going to try to collect some seeds....
They look a lot like grass when they come up, so don't pull them up for weeds.
Maggie--mine are kinda on and off agin like Taylor said too...I've got pink and white. Neither one has bloomed yet this year....just lots of "grass" from them! LOL
Debbie