Hooray!

lycoris squamigera

It's a lovely, lovely morning here.  At sunrise, the temperature was 68 degrees; the wonderful coolness makes it pleasant to be outside. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting at the table on my little patio while I drank my first cup of coffee and watched the cats stalk imaginary (or real) creepy crawlies in the grass.

Today is going to be a mowing day.  The much appreciated rain that we received last week, a total of five inches, has caused the grass/weeds in my yard to grow with abandon.  If I don't cut it soon, one of those threatening letters from the city fathers will show up in my mail box. Yarrrgh!

The lycoris squamigera , otherwise known as Naked Ladies, that I received two years ago from Carol and her husband (Coward's Corner with Luckie) have bloomed!  I am tickled pink! (pun intended) Naked Ladies get their name from the fact that, at flowering time, the plants send up only a bloom stalk - no leaves.  Each blossom-bearing stalk that you see in the photo above was, in April, preceded by the leaves of the plant, which emerge to gather energy for the bulbs from which the later flower shoots will emerge.  Mother Nature has provided an unusual, but efficient, method for blessing our gardens twice.

Closer view of the blossoms

* * *

Did you hear about the chef who had to be fired after burglars took his stove?  He had become deranged.

Tomorrow is also a day.

Lycoris Squamigera

OR "Naked Ladies"

After almost giving up hope of having any flowers this season, I spied a solitary bloom peeping out from behind a basket of Lantana, which I had inadvertently placed on top of the place where I planted several Lycoris bulbs last year (see here for details). It remains to be seen if any of the other myriad bulbs I planted will flower this season.

The dear people from whom I received the bulbs, Carol and her husband of "Coward's Corner with Luckie" told me that I might not have any blooms the first year. Carol shared a gardener's wisdom - "one year to rest; one year to grow; one year to bloom."  Perhaps I am still ahead of the game by having any blooms at all.

The photos above were not taken in situ, as the flower stalk had been severely warped by the Lantana container, so I clipped it and brought it inside to place in my kitchen window, and I love looking at it. 

I'll be closely watching other places where I planted bulbs in hope that some others may show their colors this year.  I do so enjoy these beautiful flowers.

Having Fun with Naked Ladies...

... or how I met a fellow blogger, her husband and their wonderful dog, Luckie.

Luckie, feeling a bit shy.
(all photos may be enlarged by clicking on them)

My Gardening Daughter (henceforth known in this post as MGD), my almost five-year-old granddaughter and I made a three-hour trip to northern Arkansas yesterday. The excursion was designed for two purposes: first, I'd get to personally meet another Arkansas-based blogger; secondly, I'd have some new flowers to add to my garden.

I have been corresponding for a few weeks with blogger Carol Coward, of Coward's Corner with Luckie, concerning her comments about her flower beds which were overcrowded with lilies which are known by many names: Surprise Lily; Magic Lily, Naked Lady, Amaryllis Belladonna, or proper name Lycoris squamigera . As she had a stated surplus and I had none, she agreed to share her bounty, and I agreed to come dig them up -- the "I" in this instance being myself with the critical assistance of MGD, who is both skilled in such things and has a strong back!

After a brief and very tasty lunch, brought back to their home from Carol's favorite mom & pop burger stand, during which we shared chit chat like old friends, we were ready to dig. Granddaughter played with Luckie; Carol supervised; MGD dug with a vengeance, and Carol's husband also put his back into the digging, pointing out lily clumps where the above-ground vegetation had already died back and were otherwise invisible. My contribution to the process was, I fear, picking up bulbs and placing them in the cart we brought for the purpose, and removing a few weeds and grass roots loosened by the digging. I still worked up a sweat!

Husband digs lilies at one end of the flower bed

Husband and MGD hold a lily clump

Carol was not kidding when she said she had a lot of lilies! The bulbs are as large as medium-sized onions, and some clumps would have five, or more, bulbs each. To ease the digging process, Husband had watered the bed recently, and MGD's sharp shovel made relatively quick work of it.

Partial results of the digging and thinning.

Husband insisted on giving us a bucket-full of bulbs he had already dug from their back yard; 56 of them, as I recall him saying. Those are at the bottom of the cart, covered by the freshly-dug plants.

I was feeling greedy about taking so many lilies, but MGD kept getting encouragement from Husband to "come over here; here's another clump." Carol kept telling us that there would be more lilies arising from the places we thought we had removed most of them, that they were almost impossible to eradicate. I hope she's right. I'm going to feel terrible if she doesn't have a nice display of blooms next year. If that's the case, I'll reverse the process: dig some of my plants and take them back to her.

After thanking them profusely for their largess in sharing so many of their bulbs, we returned home by a different route (got to see different scenery, that way) and arrived here about 6 p.m. -- still daylight, and prime planting time, according to MGD. After leaving my granddaughter in the care of her older siblings, MGD and I unloaded the lilies into paper bags, 50 bulbs/plants to a bag. How many did we have? Would you believe two hundred thirteen? Yes... 213 lily bulbs!

I reserved 25 bulbs for the church garden (and might end up putting more there; it depends upon how tired I get digging holes in my own yard), sent a bag of 50 home with MGD for her yard (and she may get more), set aside some to plant in a friend's yard, and will ask my next door neighbors and the nice folks across the street if they would like to have some. I try not to be a "greedy gut" (crudely put, but you know what I mean.) Some others I will plant in groups in my back yard where I can see them from my kitchen window. I don't have anything "pink" back there, so these will be a welcome addition.

MGD and I prepared and enriched the ground for and planted about 35-40 bulbs in three different places in my front garden before dark last night. Photos (taken this morning) are below.

All the remaining foliage will soon disappear. If I'm lucky, there will be new growth (leaves only) next spring which will die back completely during the summer. If I'm lucky (again), come next August, I'll be surprised by Surprise Lily blooms.

I had an extremely enjoyable day in all respects. It was a real pleasure to meet Carol and her husband, and to see Luckie. I enjoyed the scenery, treasured the time spent with MGD and my granddaughter, and came home with new additions to my flower collection. All in all, a day well spent.

I should be recovered in about a week! :)