Around here these are called Surprise Lilies. They might have a different name in other parts of the world. They come up in the spring but after a few weeks the foliage dies back without blooming. Then in August straight, leafless stems come up and these lovely pink blooms appear seemingly overnight. If they are growing with other plants they might go unnoticed until they bloom, thus the surprise.
This year though, I was watching for them so I was not surprised. They are the only flowers I have blooming and I’ve seen them in other yards where they are the only blooms – the only garden plants to survive both last winter’s record cold and this summer’s heat wave.
August 23rd, 2011 - 6:29 pm
Yay, naked ladies! (at least, that’s what some of my friends here call them, and with gusto.)
Heh…I had to refresh my mom’s memory about that name (she’s reading a Susan Wittig Albert mystery that has “Naked Ladies” in the title…it is apparently about a crime-solving group of Garden Club women.)
August 24th, 2011 - 8:56 am
I call them “Triffids,” because to me they look kind of like sinister alien plant creatures.
August 24th, 2011 - 9:01 am
Heh…”triffid” makes me think of giant ragweed. Because of the specific epithet (Ambrosia trifida). But also because of its habit of completely taking over anywhere with a little bit of available water and quickly growing into dense, 7′ tall stands.
August 25th, 2011 - 6:47 am
Heh. I like the name “Surprise Lilies”. I have seen them in catalogs as “Magic Lilies”.