East Coasting

By OzBeachcomber

Garden suprise

Last week I noticed in the back corner of the garden an unusual plant had popped up - just a stem, no leaves and with a deep pink bud on the top. We had visitors at the time and I quickly forgot about it.... until today when I was doing a bit of weeding and this was what I spotted. A lovely suprise - but I have no idea where it came from! I haven't seen them before but thanks to Wikipedia I now know it to be most probably an Amaryllis Belladonna or a Lycoris Squamigera, also otherwise known as Naked Ladies, Resurrection Lily, Magic Lily and probably a few other names as well. I had heard of them but did not really know what they looked like, or that the flowers came on leafless stems. I vaguely recall seeing a plant with unusual leaves there some time ago and I have also now found out that the leaves die off, the plant disappears and then months later the flower appears on a long stem only. Wikipedia also tells me that they reproduce slowly either by bulb distribution or by seed. I know I never planted the bulb so I'm guessing the seed was dropped by birds as the plant is under some tall Palm trees.
Wikipedia also says there is a Belladonna Amaryllis Hybrid which was bred in Australia in the 1800's. The hybrids were also crossed back to the original, and with each other, to produce seed bearing crosses that come in a very wide range of flower sizes and intensities of pinks. The hybrids are distinct in that the many shades of pink also have stripes, veining, darkened edges, white centres and also light yellow centres, setting them apart from the original light pink ones. What did we do before Wikipedia:) View of inside of flower
I'm quite excited about my new garden arrival although I'm sure they are very common in some parts.

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.