Please help with ID on Heirloom Texas Bulbs!

howdy guys,
i dug up some bulbs from a house my great grandmother used to live in. the place has been abandoned for over 20 years, but there were some ditch lilies, st joseph liles, daffs and these guys there for the taking. these bulbs were growing very well in nice sized clumps. i know it can be hard to identify bulbs from the foliage, but i hope you guys might recognize it. i thought they might be fall spider lilies, but i am not so sure. spider lily foliage looks a lot like liriope, dark green and kinda thin. to me this looks different. thanks

tracie

here is another photo of the bulb part

another shot of the foliage

I'm not a Texan but my guess is Lycoris.

thanks badseed. that was my first guess too, but i wanted to see what you guys think.

tracie

I have only grown radiata and squamigera but that is what they look like to me.

I dream that my grandchildren will be eagerly digging my old bulbs. How sweet.

Sorry, I will be waiting to see if you two have a perfect match.

Christi

so both the radiata and the squamigera are lycoris, is that right? i would really love to know which they are, since one is a red spider and the other a pink trumpet. thanks for your help

tracie

louc, i am with you. there is something kinda magical about digging bulbs that your grandmother or even great grandmother planted. i love to take my daughter out to dig with me. makes me feel like we are still connected to the great ladies of my family.

tracie

As things go, my L. radiata actually came from a man in TX. They lived 2-3 years in my zone 6 garden then did not return. The L. squamigera (called naked ladies) has proven more hardy here and I still have them. I still remember the trip to get those at a DG get together, as I was almost nine months pregnant and everyone was afraid I'd pop. LOL

I really wish I could have gotten some plants from my great grandmothers home. It was sold and then demolished so far as I can remember. That sweet little woman could grow anything!

Just today I mailed some day lillies to my cousin that had come from my great-grandmother's yard. (my cousin's grandmother) I have been moving them around since 1972. I've moved them so many times in the last six years they haven't bloomed for me. Hopefully they will this year.

my grandmothers home burned down several years ago, a burning leaf got onto the roof and up it went. the house was empty because both my grandparents had passed away. my grandmother loved plants and always had a lovely yard. just today i went by the lot and walked around. i spoke with the neighbor that bought the property and they said it would be fine for me to get some of her plants. i plan on taking my daughter over there soon to help me dig.

tracie

Tracie those heirloom plants are precious, I don't have any heirloom plants from family, but I do have them from friends, and they are very special to me.
So I understand how you feel.
Josephine.

I repeat answer from other forum
=)

I dug some up that look like yours last fall when they were blooming from my uncle's house just north of Longview. My grandfather planted them because they reminded him of his mother. The ones I got are red spider lilies.

L. squamigera - bulbs get much bigger here - just moved a bunch into a pot not long ago...

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2109/
and
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54021/

are the two common heirloom plants here in TX - both are stunning but the frist one the leaves are dark green with a light green vien, the second one the leaves are all green.

thank you so much for the info. i think they are the red spider lily. i guess i will have to wait and see, to get a positive id.

tracie

I would lean more towards Rhodophiala bifida - but they are both great plants to have and will not bloom for a year or two after moving.

mitch, i wish i could get a good look at the foliage of the oxblood liles. these grow in big clumps, very thickly. does the foliage go summer dormant like the spider lily? i did not know that they would not bloom for a couple of years due to moving! is that always the case? usually, bulbs are so forgiving of being moved, i wonder why these are not?

tracie

Tracie - Yes they both go dormant at least here for me and the leave look all most identical but with the spider ones having the lighter green vein. Some bulbs are very forgiving others dont like being moved one bit - I have a group of Naked Ladies that will not bloom even after four years in one spot - others just took one to get back in the flow of things.

R bifida (oxbloods) should have no problems blooming after being moved, if the bulbs are large enough to bloom. Mine are dug every year and bloom again in the fall. L radiata is the worst, for me, about blooming after being moved. The other 4 Lycoris species I grow don't seem to mind.
Debbie

i went back today and got this photo of some of the clumps still in the ground, thought it might look familiar to some of you. forgive the quality, it was overcast.

tracie

Spider lily - see the vein in the leaf?

these are the same clumps as the photos above. they still dont seem as dark green as the foliage of the clumps that i know are spider lilies. also, the leaves look slightly wider and longer. again, i guess i will know for sure when they bloom. thanks for taking another look! :)

tracie

oh, btw, there was a ton of what i think is lanceleaf coreopsis growing around the place. i dug up a number of the plants and am going to put some in some of my beds. what do you think about that plan? from the info that i googled, it seems that if you deadhead, they will continue to bloom for several months. also, they sure do look just like the ones being sold in Lowes for $6 a pot!