The Naked Ladies are blooming... also known as Belladonna Lilies (Belladonna means beautiful woman), or March Lilies, these plants are members of the Amaryllis family...only I usually slip and call them "Bare Naked Ladies". They earn their monaker because they throw straplike leaves in the early spring, which die away about the same time as the early daffodils die away. Then, about now they throw the flowers atop a long stem.
You really have to be careful to remember where they are planted because I've sent a spade through the middle of the bulbs more than once.
They are natives of South Africa, and are hardy here in zone 5. In fact, I drove by a 19th century house the other day which had a border of them which was at least 50 feet long and just full of these wonderful plants.
The heart shaped leaves you see in this picture are Redbud seedlings....I can't seem to get rid of them although I cut the diseased parent down four years ago.
3 comments:
I had some of these for a while but they didn't last long. Probably got destroyed when I was moving other things around when they didn't have their leaves. You've reminded me I need to try them again and maybe be more careful this time!
I bet that claims a lot of attention1 Imagine saying, "I must show you my Naked Ladies" ! :D
But the name does seem to fit.
There's more than one way to make someone look at your garden! ; )
These supposedly are fragrant, but I haven't detected fragrance on mine. It may be that they are fragrant only at certain periods of the day. Since they have gone by, I'll have to do an hourly sniff test next year!
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