My first round of white lily blooms opened today, I am such a proud gardener. These darlings bloom at least once a month for me in the front flower bed. Next month the yellow and pink ones will join the fray. I am looking forward to seeing them all again.
Here they are close up. I got home too late in the day for them to be fully open.
They are beautiful! I love white flowers. Do you know the latin name?
Zephyranthes candida. Mine tend to bloom after a rain. I wouldn't believe it if someone had only told me so and I'd not seen it.
K. James
Mine are sulking so far this year...and we've had several downpours. Lots of grassy leaves, no blooms! :( Debbie
Mine have been nearly evergreen here. They don't seem to bloom until summer.
I let mine get very dry in the cool season. I think they bloom better if they get a little rest.
Our heat is always high here compared to most of the US. We think of 67 as being a chilly night this time of year. Rain lily is native in some cases, introduced and naturalized with some species. I have found 7 different ones so far.
My favorite is one that grows during winter, summer dormant and has a white flower with the edge of the petals that are serrated, almost lacy. It is very rare, I have only found 3 groups and the don't appear to reseed easily. I have never had my camera with me when it is in flower, but someday I will catch it.
Here is Paris in the spring, 1992
mine are sulking too. they havent bloomed yet but the weather has been weird lately.
Yes I've tried these too with no luck. I can't even remember where they are!
They are a subtropical plant, even zone 7 is pushing the limit, that far north the need special consideration, a professional gardeners help.
I do live in the near tropics, see attachment.....
Dale, I t hink the Zephyranthes you showed pictures of is Z atamasco. It is always the very first Zeph to bloom on the gulf coast along with Z primulina (in spring on the gulf coast, around Easter), and it is also one of the most spectacular because of its large, fragrant inflorescence. Z candida is a later bloomer and is very distinctive and much smaller and more symmetrical in its petal formation (and it is all over FL as I recall, especially at abandoned home sites in the country - go look!). Z candida does not have flat leaves like your plant. They are tubular and very dark green and are also much shorter than the leaves of Z atamasco. The petals of its flowers are narrow at the base and the entire inflorescence is very much smaller than Z atamasco, but there are many more flowers produced over time and they repeat until at least September. Z candida looks very much like monkey grass as the bulbs are small & close but they have rotund leaves, and it reblooms reliably throughout the summer (in spite of rain or non-rain) until early fall, like a dense monkey grass with flowers. Z atamasco blooms only or mostly in early summer in loose clusters, repeatedly, until the really hot weather hits in June on the gulf coast. Z atamasco is among the largest and most desired of the gulf coast white rain lilies, if that is any consolation. :-)
My understanding is that Z candida was named by the Spanish because it grew along a river they were traversing in Argentina in the early days of their conquest. They called the river Rio de la Plata because of the Z candida blooming along the banks of that river making a ground cover that looked silver to them. Like Z citrina, it can be an aquatic plant.
My rain lilies look like the ones in Dale's first and second pic. I don't know if that is truely the name...just know that the lady that gave me the bulbs told me they were rain lilies.
Mine were very pretty last summer, and late fall I dug the bulbs and brought them in for the winter. I just planted them again for summer bloom.
I have Z candida and Rosemary has described it to a T. I love the photo of the Z atamasco - guess I'll have to try and find some. Have to wait too long for the candidas to do their thing. Impatient!
Rain, finally. Time to hunt around for additions to the collection. Stalking the wild.
