Fabulous Friday: Hurricane Lilies

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August often proves to be awkward and uncomfortable here in coastal Virginia.  If it’s not the heat and humidity chasing us back inside, it’s the torrential rain.  Many mornings, when we first open the kitchen door to step outside, the air is so thick with humidity that we wish we had scuba gear.

Afternoon thunderstorms insure I won’t need to stand out in the mugginess with a hose to water, but they also keep the humidity and ‘ick’ factor high.

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Lycoris radiata, Hurricane lilies, appear after heavy rain some time in mid-to late August.

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The last morning I stood outside to water was Tuesday.  By the time I finished my ‘to do’ list, every stitch I wore, including my hat, was soaked with perspiration.  But I felt quite proud of myself for making the effort, as the forecast called for another hot and sunny day, with no rain until evening.

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Parts of the garden are looking a bit worn by mid-August. But I look past them to the beauties of our visitors.

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Well, by 11:30 that morning the skies opened and torrential rain caught us out on the roads, returning from the grocery store.  And every day since Tuesday we’ve been treated to the passing drama of rolling thunder, bright flashes of lightening, gusty winds and pelting rain.  We count ourselves lucky as the hail has mostly avoided our little bend in the river, but we know others nearby have endured hail and broken trees this week.

Sometimes, the storm passes quickly and allows the sun to burn through the clouds once again.  Curtains of steam rise from every paved surface and temperatures rise after the passing cool of the thunderstorm.

And then, yes, you guessed it:  another storm forms and passes over a few hours later.  We listen to thunder rolling in the distance during the night, and awaken to find the world wet from pre-dawn showers.

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Garlic chives and an emerald green fly.

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August proves a very wet month, most years.  It is a month of transition, preparing us for the first breath of autumn in September.

Along with the transition from summer to fall, we often have a hurricane or two blowing in from the Atlantic or up from the Gulf.  (Knock on wood) we have been very lucky thus far, this year.  May the blowing sands of the Sahara continue to keep things calm off the coast.

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For all of the inconveniences of August, there are also some treats and treasures.  I always look forward to our black-eyed Susans coming into bloom, filling our upper garden with their cheery golden faces.  I love watching the comings and goings of our butterflies and listening for the rare blessing of a visit from one of our hummingbirds.  And I especially love the unexpected surprise of seeing the bright red flowers of our Hurricane lilies, Lycoris radiata, when they suddenly pop into bloom.

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Lycoris burst into bloom after sudden, heavy rains; thus their moniker.  While spring bulbs are pretty predictable, these late summer bulbs time their bloom to the amount of heat and moisture in the soil.

One of those summer bulbs also known as ‘naked ladies,’ the bloom stalks appear suddenly, long before their leaves.  If you want to know more about Lycoris, you might enjoy this post about them from 2014.

I’ve never planted a whole bed of Lycoris, though I’m sure that would be stunning.  Rather, I plant a few here and there, just little accents and exclamation points to delight us and revive our spirits in August.  We only have the red, though they come in white, pink and yellow, too.

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I’m enjoying ours through the front windows, where a zipper spider has spun an enormous web, and on my occasional walks up the driveway.

The rain this week has ended up a blessing, as I’m still recovering from Lyme’s disease and wanting to stay indoors and away from the possibility of any more insect bites.  The rain and humidity have added another reason to stay in and do quiet things this week; and I’m grateful.

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But when I do wander outside, there are always new developments to enjoy.  There’s fresh growth to admire, new flowers blooming, a cutting that has struck roots, or a new spider web to examine.  The wonders unfold all on their own, a satisfying counterpoint to the inconveniences of August.

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Woodland Gnome 2019

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Fabulous Friday:  Happiness is contagious- Let’s infect one another.

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Fabulous Friday: The Time That Is Given…

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“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all

who live to see such times.

But that is not for them to decide.

All we have to decide

is what to do with

the time that is given us.”
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J.R.R. Tolkien

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Hibiscus coccineus

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“They always say time changes things,

but you actually have to change them yourself.”

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Andy Warhol

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“Unfortunately, the clock is ticking,

the hours are going by.

The past increases,

the future recedes.

Possibilities decreasing,

regrets mounting.”

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Haruki Murakami

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And just what is ‘fabulous’ this Friday?  That we all have a bit of time still to use; 

And the energy and good sense to use it well. 

Stay safe, everyone, especially those living along the Gulf Coast. 

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“Happiness is Contagious!  Let’s infect one another.”

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Woodland Gnome 2017

 

 

High Water and Hurricane Lilies

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The storm, Hermine, still spins off the coast making her way, slowly and majestically, towards the northeast.  Now off the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and back over open water, she gathers strength even as she loses speed.

Her winds are up, her pressure down, and she generously keeps sending rain showers our way.

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The folks on-air at the Weather Channel obviously aren’t allowed to use the ‘H’ word anymore.  They call her a ‘Post-Tropical Cyclone.’  But we know the truth.  Her winds are back up to a sustained 70 mph and her pressure is down to 29.38 inches.  That sounds like a hurricane to me.

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The James River is well out of its banks here near Jamestown.

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I’m thinking of loved ones on the ‘Eastern Shore’ of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.  They pretty much sit on a little peninsula out in the Atlantic Ocean, well out of site of the mainland.

It must feel very lonely out there when a hurricane is knocking at the door.  And this one brought an overnight bag; it may spin off their coast between now and Wednesday or Thursday!

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College Creek

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We’re far enough inland to have benefited from the rain but not had problems caused by the winds.  Our streets, wet and covered with pine tags and fallen leaves, are blessedly clear.  The few branches we’ve cleared were all small enough to pick up and toss with one hand.

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But the creeks and rivers have spilled out of their banks.  All the marshes and ditches filled and overflowing from the storm surge, reflect our low grey sky.  Flocks of birds gather and fly in great arcs above the wetlands.

They feel the change in the air, as do we, and have gathered to prepare for their autumn journeys.

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Our rain came last night, soon after dusk.  Quiet and gentle at first, we had to listen carefully to know it had begun.  It rained all night, giving life back to our desiccated  garden; and we awoke to a newly greened and wonderfully  wet world.

Plants which I thought were dried and finished plumped up and revived themselves overnight.

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This slow, gentle rain has soaked in instead of running off.  The soil is soaking it in, channeling it down, down, to the reservoirs below.

There is nothing like a prolonged drought to remind us that water is the life’s blood of every living thing.  It is that magical, precious substance which animates and sustains us all.

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Alocasia ‘Sarian’ grows happily here in a pot filled with Coleus.

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The ‘Hurricane Lily,’ or ‘Spider Flower’ got its name when gardeners recognized that its bloom comes on only after a heavy late summer rain.  A long dry hot spell, followed by a heavy rain, such as a tropical storm might bring, triggers growth in this unusual bulb.

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Its flowers come first in late August or September.  Carried on tall bare stems, this flower is another of the lilies commonly knows as ‘Naked Ladies.’  Long, thin Liriope like leaves will emerge in several weeks, growing through autumn and into the winter.

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Even a damp and bedraggled Ginger Lily still smells sweetly.

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My intense watering, these last few weeks, of the roses and Ginger Lilies growing near our bulbs triggered their early blooming.

They didn’t wait for the hurricane to pass before they bloomed.

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Now, if you want to order a few bulbs for yourself, please search for ‘Lycoris radiata,’ not ‘Naked Ladies,’ as a friend told me he recently did.  There are several lilies from bulbs which bloom either before or after their leaves appear, and so have earned this descriptive moniker.  My friend suggested that his returns on the search were more interesting than he expected.  And I promised to email a link to him for ordering some bulbs….

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We’ve now enjoyed 20 hours of nearly steady rain, with more to come.  The air smells fresh and the breeze is cool.

We are quite satisfied with Hermine’s brief visit.  And we wish her well and hope she moves on out to sea, sparing our neighbors to the north any ill effects from her passing.

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For the Daily Post’s

Weekly Photo Challenge:  Mirror

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Woodland Gnome 2016

 

 

 

Slipping Into September

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For an area surrounded by rivers, marshes and creeks, you wouldn’t expect us to need rain so badly.  But we’ve not had even a sprinkle since August 9th, and less than 2″ of rain for the entire month of August.  Forgive me if I’m a little giddy that rain finally fills our weekend forecast, beginning sometime this evening!

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Never mind that it is a huge tropical system, which will soon cross Northern Florida before slipping up the East Coast, bringing with it all that a tropical system brings.  We watch the Weather Channel, wistfully waiting for those blobs of green on their radar to make their way to our garden.

Hermine is coming, and will bring us the gift of rain….

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The bald Cypress trees are already turning brown and will drop their needles soon. It has been unusually hot this summer, with very little relief from cloudy days or afternoon rain.  This is the Chickahominy River at the Southwestern edge of James City County

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Waves of deja vu remind me of all the other Septembers which hold memories of approaching tropical systems.  Just as we’re all celebrating the last long weekend of summer and preparing for school to start the day after Labor Day; we’re also watching the storm clouds gather and making our storm preps.

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Early September finds us feeling a little anxious and expectant, a little off-balance maybe; as we know that our immediate future remains a bit uncertain.

Only survivors of storms past fully understand this feeling of mixed expectation and dread.  We’ve entered the heart of our Atlantic Hurricane season, school is about to start, and its election year to boot.... There’s enough heartburn for everyone!

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There were hurricanes and threats of hurricanes many years during the first month of school,  when I was still teaching  school in Tidewater.

Isabel hit on September 18, 2003, when we had been in school for less than 2 weeks.  I was still learning my new students’ names when we had an unplanned ‘vacation’ of more than a week while power was restored, flooding subsided, roads were cleared and repaired, and we slowly returned to our normal routines.

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It was a tough time on us all, but we managed.  And we grew a little savvier about what to expect from these tropical autumn storms.  Once you’ve experienced the storm and its aftermath once, you take care to stock water and batteries, to keep a little extra food on hand, and to watch the ever-changing forecast.  It’s smart to keep a charge on the cell phone and gas in the car, too!

I still flash back to Isabel whenever I eat a bagel.  I bought 2 dozen bagels early in the day when the storm hit, and we ate bagels and fresh oranges over the next several days while the power was out.

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But September, like April, brings dramatic and positive change to our garden.  Summer’s heat melts away into cool mornings and comfortable days, when one is happy to stay outside working well into the afternoon.

The sky turns a particular intense shade of blue.  Summer’s haze and humidity blow out to sea in the brisk September winds which bring us the first real hint of autumn.

There is rain.  The trees recover a bit of vitality.  Fall perennials and wildflowers blossom.  Huge pots of Chrysanthemums appear on neighbors’ porches.

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Sweet Autumn Clematis has begun to bloom this week, here near the parking area by the river.

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And the best of summer lingers.  The ginger lilies bloom, filling the garden with their perfume.  More and more butterflies arrive.   We settle into a gentler, milder ‘Indian Summer’ which will linger, and ever so slowly transition into our bright, crisp autumn.

September reinvigorates us, too.  We bring fresh energy to the garden as we plant new shrubs, divide perennials, buy Daffodil bulbs and begin to plan ahead for winter.

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Spider lilies, also called “Hurricane lily” by some, reward my faithful watering with their buds this week.  These Lycoris radiata come back each year from bulbs in late August and early September.

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Yes, it is September first; and we’re watching a potential hurricane, knowing it might start slipping up the coast, headed towards us and our loved ones within the next couple of days.  We trust that everyone will come through OK, once again.

And we’re also looking past the coming storms towards the rest of September stretching before us, full of beauty and promise.  We’re content to leave summer’s heat behind, and  slip into September once again.

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Photos 4, 5 and 6 for Cee’s Oddball Challenge

Woodland Gnome 2016

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Lycoris, Surprise!

 

Surprise!  Late summer lilies, like this Lycoris radiata, just pop up from the border and bloom some random day in August or September, usually after a rain.

And a welcome surprise, at that, to spice up a summer weary border.  Like any bulb, they are long lived, and will multiply over time.

There was a single  Lycoris here to greet us our first autumn in this garden.

The bright red, spidery blossoms  made us smile, and promised more pleasant surprises to come , over the coming year.

Daffodils, Peonies, Hyacinth, and Asian Magnolias each made their appearance in their season.  Our hearts warmed to former owners of the garden who planted such beauty.

If you want to plant Surprise lilies in your own garden, Easy To Grow Bulbs is a reliable source for a variety of large, healthy bulbs.

Because Easy To Grow Bulbs offers a discount for ordering larger quantities, I found friends who wanted Lycoris for their own gardens, and split a large order of bulbs.

Now several of us grow Surprise Lilies, and enjoy seeing whose pop out first.

 

Grow Lycoris in a sunny area for best growth and flowering.  They like  moist soil, especially when they bloom.

Here is another reliably deer-safe flowering plant. 

Many lilies end up as “deer candy” before they can even open.  These beautiful lilies have never been munched by deer in our garden.

They make good cut flowers to bring inside, so you might want to grow extra for cutting.

But please  make sure to leave some out in the border for the hummingbirds, who love them so much!

 

Photos by Woodland Gnome 2014

Watching For Red

Surprise!

Lycoris radiata, in its first season of bloom in our garden.

The surprise spider lily, Lycoris radiata, is one of the beautiful surprises of autumn.  This lovely red lily appears quite suddenly, usually after a heavy rain.  In the southeastern United States is has earned the name, “Hurricane Lily” because it so often appears right after the heavy rains of a hurricane.  It is always a happy surprise to see its beautiful blossoms pop up out of the Earth.

 

This sterile bulb, native to Asia, has an interesting growth pattern.   It blooms in late August or September, over several days.

 

The bulbs divide and produce multiple bloom stalks over the years.  These bulbs don’t like to be disturbed once planted.  The flower is a surprise, partly because no foliage appears before the bloom.  After the flowers fade, the long, strap like leaves begin to appear; hanging around throughout the winter, and making food for the following season’s blooms.  The blooms and leaves rarely appear at the same time.

Although Lycoris radiata is native  to China, it has also been widely grown in Japan for centuries.

The first  bulbs came to the United States sometime in the 1850s.  Early sailors who visited Japan after it opened for trade with the United States brought them back and introduced them into American gardens.  Many sources credit Captain William Roberts with being the first to introduce Lycoris to North America.  Interested in botany, he is said to have brought home three Lycoris bulbs from his trip.   His wife, Lavinia, was an avid gardener with hundreds of roses in her garden, and they likely were a gift for her.  His personal diary, a transcript of which is in the archives at Tryon Palace in New Bern, NC, indicates that Captain Roberts may not have traveled to Japan until several years after the date given in most sources for his trip.

Most current cultivars of Lycoris radiata are hardy in zones 6-9.  Other Lycoris species and hybrids are hardy as far north as zone 4.  More complete information is available from Plant Delights Nursery near Raleigh, NC, which carries an extensive inventory of Lycoris bulbs.  Bulbs are also available from Easy To Grow Bulbs.

 

Lycoris should be planted in good soil, in a location with full to part sun, about 8” deep, and at least 6” apart.  Like daffodils, once planted, they can be expected to come back year after year.  Also like daffodils, Lycoris are extremely poisonous.  Deer, voles, rabbits, squirrels, and other hungry creatures leave them strictly alone.  This is another good plant for patches of sun in a forest garden, because they won’t be destroyed by the wildlife.  Although the plant is poisonous, Lycoris nectar is still an important late season food for nectar loving insects.

Lycoris  bloom most often after a heavy rain.  In a dry autumn, they may bloom late, or not at all.   Moist soil is important for good growth. Their unpredictability is part of their beauty.

 

This clump of Surprise Lily was already growing in the garden when we moved in. It surprised and delighted us when it suddenly appeared that September, and continues to bring a smile each year it blooms.

 

In fact, in Japan, they are planted around homes and rice paddies to keep mice away.  They are an important flower in Japan.  Not only do they signal the beginning of autumn, but they are important in family life.  Lycoris bulbs are often planted on the graves of loved ones as a sign of respect and love.  Lycoris features in several traditional folk tales based on the fact that the flowers and leaves are never present at the same time.  Although Lycoris are long lasting cut flowers, they are rarely used as cut flowers in Asia due to their association with death and separation.

Although Lycoris radiata are red, other Lycoris species and cultivars come in white, yellow, pink, orange, and light lavender.  All are hardy, easy to grow plants, which bring surprise and delight to an autumn day.

( Much appreciation to Perry Mathewes for giving additional information on Captain William Roberts, based on his reading of the transcript of Captain Roberts’s diary while he was curator of the gardens at Tryon Palace.)

All photos by Woodland Gnome

Related articles

• Searching for Scarlet (forestgardenblog.wordpress.com)
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• Spider Lily’s (katlyndoepker.wordpress.com)
• Naked Ladies (whistlepigpost.wordpress.com)
• ❇ 6 ❇ 嵐に花 ❇ Of souls and flowers ❇ (tokyooverdosed.wordpress.com)
• The Whistlepig Post

Watching for Red

This gallery contains 15 photos.

Watching the turn of the seasons is always about color.   We watch for things to green up in early summer, and in autumn, I watch for red.    As lovely as yellow Tulip Poplars and orange Crepe Myrtle leaves may be,   I love the vibrant scarlet tones of autumn,   popping out against … Continue reading →