I do not remember planting this. When I bent down to get a closer look it snapped off...stupid me. So I brought it in and put it in a vase to enjoy. It has a pleasant scent. No leaves, just the flower.
Kim
anyone know what this is?
A side angle.
What a nice surprise, Kim. Do you think it could be these http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2377/
cocoa-very close!
but more likely the more temperate version found growing wild in Texas
Lycoris squamigera:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/517/
Mine are blooming right now, too. They do smell really nice, don't they? The pink ones always bloom around the fourth of July.
This year they are kinda late, lol...
-T
Bella Donna....aka Naked Lady...
"eyes"
sorry, but not the belladonna, but even some of the nurseries mix these up, so don't feel bad.
Both go by the name naked ladies. That is just a common name.
The belladonna are huge fat bulbs very much like amaryllis. They would freeze out and die in many of the areas that people who claim to have belladonna, grow them. They also have to be planted like amaryllis: with the top 1/3 of the bulb out of the soil, so they don't rot.
Lycoris are much more hardy and can be grown pretty much all across the US. They are smaller than the belladonna, and more like large daffodil bulb sized bulbs. In Texas it is best to plant just under the soil surface, but further north it is recommended to plant as deep as 6 inches...
I grow both, so quite familiar with the differences.
Look closely at the pictures Kell posted of belladonna. the flowers are sorta easter lily shaped...the flower is one piece with "fringed", or split ends.
Now look at the lycoris. The flower is not one piece, but made up of petals that are completely separate from each other.
Very similar look, but different plants.
:0)
Do you know if the pink lycoris is as easy to start from from seed and does it spread as much as the red?
Also I purchased some Amaryllis in pots from a homestead nursery this Spring and the lady didn't know what they were. She said they would bloom either pink or red, But at 3.00 per pot of three I thought it was worth a shot. I planted the pots even with the soil line, so the bulbs are about three inches deep from the top of the bulb. Is what you said about the belladonna true with all Amaryllis. If I need to adjust the depth, when is the best time to do it?
What kind of drainage to both of those need. Right now the Amaryllis is in a bed with madonna and formosa, not as much drainage as I would provide for an asiatic, but decent. Do either of these need lots of drainage?
Sheesh, I tend to be long winded, sorry. You get the idea:0)
Taylor is right--its Lycoris, belladonna doesn't do well in a lot of Texas; it likes really dry summer conditions and not as hot for as prolonged a time period as most of Texas has--thus the reason its escaped cultivation in California and rampantly grows and blooms out there
=)
all Lycoris is easy from seed
This message was edited Jul 15, 2008 12:03 PM
Thanks for the ID! I don't remember planting it, but I must've.
:) Kim
maybe a trade Kim?
That's actually the only flower I saw come up, so I don't think I have enough to trade yet. Sorry.
Kim
Deb-
Thank you for your support :0)
(For those of you that don't know, Deb is a bulb EXPERT. She is a member of many different bulb societies, and sure knows her bulbs. She has quite the bulb collection)
Cocoa-
Quoting:
If I need to adjust the depth, when is the best time to do it?
Any time while dormant...The only gardens that I've seen that can grow amaryllis outdoors year after year, are zone 9, in parts of Texas (and California), in the dry areas under a tree, or well-draining ammended soil.
The belladonna supposedly like to be crowded to bloom, so I squeezed mine together. Lycoris on the otherhand, supposedly can stop blooming if they get too crowded.
I'd say the same drainage as your asiatic lilies. Both the amaryllis and asiatic lilies can rot about as easily as the other, in most Texas alkaline clay soils...Now, if you are fortunate enough to have that great Texas sandy loam soil (my friend Karen called it powdered sugar), you won't have to do anything, but plant the right depth. :0)
Lycoris are easy. They can grow in soil with a very high clay content. (Slick and shiny when wet, but cracks when dry). The kind of soil that you break tools in, lol...or in wonderful soil, and everything inbetween.
Hopefully Deb will correct me If I've said anything incorrect. :0)
-T
Kim-you are welcome. You may only have one, but if you dug down, it is possible that you could actually have more than one bulb, just only one blooming.
I have a patch that was my first patch I ever planted, and I planted an even dozen. I was naive about lycoris planting depths at that time, so took the advice given on the web, (which must have been zone 3 alaska!! because I planted them 6 inches deep!).
They have taken three years to bloom, and have only just this year bloomed for the first time. And, only three are blooming out of that entire dozen bulbs.
I apparently dug some red lycoris that same year, because I planted them way too deeply, too.
I decided to trade off the reds, and as I dug them up, I couldn't believe my eyes. The bulbs had spent all their energy forming a new bulb above themselves. In other words they were replanting themselves more shallowly! So, live and learn by trowel and error, lol...
A few inches in planting depth can mean a few years of no blooms while they work on repositioning themsleves :0)
I found the picture I took of the bulbs:
The one on the far right is the size that they all were when I first planted them.
You can see the original bulbs were now half their original size, and had given all their energies to making new bulbs above.
"Nature" planted them correctly. ~ about 2/3 of the neck part of the bulbs, under the soil, and the top 1/3 of the neck part, above the soil.
I'll bet if I dug my original dozen pink lycoris up right now, they would look just like these because they were planted too deeply...
-T
This link has a very correct pictue of an amaryllis belladonna. His site says that it is the only true amaryllis, and that what we commonly see offered during the holidays, is actually Hippeastrum
http://shop.bulbmeister.com/nursery/nursery.html?q=Amaryllis&s=0&l=10&z=0
This guy really knows his bulbs, too! :0)
Thanks for bringing us up to speed...now ya know why I don't do a lot of bulbs..
"eyes"
I have always wondered about planting depth here in Texas/Houston. I always thought that the planting depth on most of the packages/instructions were wrong, so I have always planted bulbs with the top just above ground or no more than an inch below ground for those that were suposed to be planted 6"deep. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Are there some varieties of bulbs that should be planted deeper?
When I raided my uncle's bed for lycoris radiata last fall, I found many bulbs that were growing one on top of the other. This fall I plan to help him "thin" his bed out again. Do you think the bottom bulb could be broken off to start a new plant?
Tabitha
Thanks for the great info! Taking notes here:0) I have about four different soils here, from slick yellow clay to powdered sugar. I enjoy it because it's easy to find the right spot for the right plant, tho bulbs tend to confuse me more because of the different moisture requirements. When in doubt I use the "shotgun method"...lots of the same bulbs in different areas, cross fingers and wait.LOL
eyes-you are welcome, and I hope I didn't step on any toes. We are all here learning together, right?
That is why I love these forums. Everyone is so good about sharing their knowlege, and even sometimes sharing some of their failures. Someone was nice enough to educate me on all of this, so just passing it along.
I don't really like showing poeple my embarrassing incorrectly planted bulbs, lol...but, if it saves someone else from planting too deeply, I'll gladly post them. :0)
Eyes-if you ever get a chance to swap for some of these lycoris, you should do it. They are about the easiest bulbs you can grow, and they bloom each year in July when a lot of other things start to cough and sputter. Plus, they smell wonderful :0)
-T
Madrid-
Yes, most of the instructions are for the broader spectrum of the US. I always find that irritating, because they are saying 6 inches, whether you live in Galveston, TX, or Seward, Alaska! We southerners have to ignore those directions.
I had some gladiola bulbs that did the exact same thing...they made a new bulb above the old one, in order to be more shallowly planted. Now I barely dig them in...
Are there some that should be planted deeper? Well, Deb can probably say if there are, but so far it has been my experience that most any bulb for Texas shoudl be planted the same...just under the soil, with the neck almost out, or partially out of the soil. I even killed some cheap old daffodils a few years ago, planting them according to the "directions".
Yes, the lower bulbs can be snapped off, and planted. And, that is exactly what happended to those bulbs the minute I was done taking the picture,lol...
You can also increase your bulbs by slicing them in half(top to bottom) and then re-planting them, but it is a good idea to use a fungicide dip, or powder on them, before placing them back in the ground, so they don't become susceptible to rot, while healing. This will get you more bulbs in the long run, but they'll probably skip a year of blooming.
Don't worry 'bout my toes.......I got steel toes...
"eyes"
no Kim--I don't want to trade--I meant maybe YOU got it in a trade!
A lot of bulbs actually do better planted deep down here, just not Lycoris. Rhodophiala will spend all its energy pulling itself deeper by contractile roots if not buried deeper. Most Crinums that heavily offset (ellen, etc) need to be planted deeper if you want more blooms and less offsets. Daffodils do much better very deeply planted here (4-6") where soil stays cooler and drier in summer.
edited to add I was sleeping when ya'll expanded this discussion. =O
This message was edited Jul 15, 2008 2:44 PM
not really, they look better crowded--but they do need a super dry summer dormancy (what I call bone dry)
Oh sorry! Lol....probably did get them in a trade, but I don't remember planting anything besides daylilies and irises in that bed. Must be losing it already...
:) Kim
could have been a small offset that got tangled up in a daylilly roots--cool hitchhiker.
Got these from my great aunt's yard when she passed away some 6 years ago at age 95.
I have them planted in several locations and never do anything to or for them. I only know the common names and have always called these amaryllis. I am in zone 8A and if I understood one of the posts above, they don't usually live here. As you can see these are thriving and multiplying every year. Are we speaking of the same plant? I'm always mixed up.
Since I have so many hummer and butterfly blooms, #1 being the turk's cap, I have not put out feeders in years. Have read somewhere that the hummers much prefer turk's cap...another no work plant. I try to have as many of that kind as possible.
What a nice momento of your great aunt.
I would guess one of the crinums, but Deb will know.
-T
This is what I have decided the ones my Aunt passed on to me were. Do you think this could be the same?
are you referring to the pink ones, or the red ones she just posted?
-T
that's Hippeastrum x johnsonii --very common in the south and very hardy up to zone 7a. Most common Amaryllis in the south--but a beauty, leave 'em alone, they like it crowded.
=)
My MIL has a bed full of the same amaryllis. I was over at her house and she pulled one of the flowers for me. I was shocked and told her she didn't have to pluck it for me to appreciate it. Then I realized it was fake! She had a gap in her real blooms and found fakes that looked exactly like the real thing. She's a nut, I love that woman :0)
LOL...that is cute.
-T
Oh....sorry I forgot to attach the link on my last post.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56501/
Lou.... are these what you have?
Yes that is it, Sheila. I have also planted the ones that I have gotten at Christmas time as forced bulbs. They are different with a much deeper red and larger bloom but they all come back and multiply the same.
Christi
Christi, Those are one plant that I saved from my Aunt's place. I have shared a lot, but of course they are hardy and multiply so it gives me a few to "pass forward" as they used to say.
Question for anyone....I have a crinum lily that was given in a trade that has no id. When it has two flower stalks, does that mean the bulb has divided and could be shared? I have one that is so deep I gave up trying to dig it one day; it is too deep. I raised that flower bed and forgot it was there. I don't want to try again unless I have a purpose like sharing.
It is a pretty thing.
Sheila, she lived in Glen Rose, Texas all of her life. Maybe the original started with a mutual garden. Know anyone from there?
Christi
My Mom lived in Glen Rose before she passed away but never had a garden in her life! LOL! My Aunt lived on Lake Whitney, not too far away.
Kim....sorry we hijacked your thread, I just remembered how this got started...... Would you like a St. Joseph's Lily? LOL! Hope to see you in Oct at one of the RUs.