Early harbinger

This morning it was a surprise to find two stalks of oxblood lilies, just along the fence from Spike's corner. They must have been sprinkled by the hand-watering of the tithonia. This seems early, even for an early batch, but there's not time to check. I think that we usually see the first ones, wherever they appear in the yard, sometime during the very first few days of September. In 2002, Uruguay issued a stamp showing these. Their Spanish name there is azucenita roja (little red lily).