Monday, August 27, 2012

Cuban zephyr lilies

That's one name for these beautiful little pink rain lilies. This may be the earliest that they've ever appeared. We owe them to Tejas Native Bulbs. We also are enjoying pink schoolhouse lilies, found at Wheatsville. There are more oxblood-schoolhouse liles of the traditional color everywhere, including on the oak motte. Garlic chives are beginning to bloom in their pots. Now that the Turk's caps have finally come into their own, we see more hummingbirds. The nights are cooler, sooner, and we're thankful.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

New arrivals of the season

Spider lilies (lycoris radiata) have made more of a show than they have for years. The rains must have come at just the right times. Thus far, they've all been appearing on the oak motte in the side yard. They're long-lasting blooms, whether in their natural state or as cut flowers, and the earliest ones, which opened one week ago, look just as good as the newest, and there are still more shoots appearing. The day before yesterday, we observed the first nubbins of oxblood lilies (rhodophiala bifida). Yesterday morning there were visible shoots everywhere; at suppertime there were dozens of open flowers; this morning there were even more. These are in profusion everywhere that they ever appear except for the oak motte, where so far there's only one shoot in evidence.