Oxblood lilies in bloom
September 08, 2009
My first oxblood lily (Rhodophiala bifida) opened this morning. They go so fast from sprout to bud to blazing bouquet of flowers.
It’s fun to see the oxblood lilies, also called schoolhouse lilies, blooming on so many Austin garden blogs right now, thanks to the Johnny Appleseed efforts of MSS of Zanthan Gardens, who has generously shared her wealth of bulbs with local gardeners.
And just to set Chuck off, here’s a sunny yellow Dahlberg daisy to go with the red lilies.
All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
It is a beauty, this lily!
Those blood red blooms are pretty. Red and yellow go together well for me.
Is this one of those plants that spends a lot of time dormant, emerging without foliage like Lycoris? It certainly is a stunner.
Yes, exactly, Les. The leaves come up later, then disappear in the spring. —Pam
Wow it really did go from shoot to bloom fast. Great color. I’ve got to check my little patch where they bloomed last year. Maybe I’ll have a surprise too.
It really is amazing how quickly they bloom after a rain. Also this morning I have 8 rain lilies in bloom. All in the wrong place of course!
I saw crowds of the native white rain lilies in bloom along the median of Hwy. 183 today, almost like snow on the ground. It was beautiful. —Pam
Pam: I envy you that oxblood lily as I have every year and I always delight in seeing them from your vantage point. Love the backlighting in that photo.
They really add a punch to the late summer garden, Layanee. I wish you could grow them too. —Pam
Beautiful photo of beautiful oxblood! No sign of mine yet.
My Oxblood lilies came from Texas, too, but not from MSS. They’ve bloomed, having multiplied beautifully in very few years. I did blog about mine. I think that clicking on my name might link to two posts about them.