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Lycoris squamigera , is a flowering bulb brought to America from Japan in 1898 .
Lycorisbelongs to the Amaryllis syndicate , which includes theSnowdrop flower , Tuberoseand Narcissus . The bulbs ofLycoris squamigerashould be planted in the fall for blooming “ Surprise lily ” in midsummer .
Beautiful blossoms of Lycoris Squamigera – the SURPRISE Lily!
It is more commonly known as the :
Lycoris A Plant Name From Greek Mythology
The lycoris nonplus its name from the Nereids of Grecian mythology – the fifty beautiful daughters of Nereus , a divinity of the ocean , and Doris , a half - human ocean - houri .
The Nereids were sometimes represented as half human , half fish , but at other times they were image as wholly human , wearing gown of pale , frothy green , riding on walrus or other monsters of the sea .
Two high peaks rear themselves skywards in the Parnassus mountains of Greece . One of these peak is shout out Lycoris , from its foot rushes the Castalian spring .
Beautiful blossoms of Lycoris Squamigera – the SURPRISE Lily!
Since the Nereids were goddesses of H2O , one of these beautiful nymph reigned over this spring .
The Nipponese interweave imaginary stories and commemorate them with flower symbols .
borrow from Western traditional knowledge , they liken a bloom stem as it sprang from the solid ground , naked of foliation , to the Nereid nymph of the Castalian spring and named the plantLycoris .
Growing The “Surprise Lily” A Fairy Princess Of The Flower Garden
in truth a fag princess in the blossom garden , Lycoris squamigeracomes into efflorescence during the first Clarence Shepard Day Jr. of August .
The bulb , about the sizing of hen egg , should be planted in September or October , with their browned paper bakshis just beneath the primer .
Theirs are the greenish leaves that seem in the bound along with the earliest jonquils .
The benighted green , half - inch wide-eyed leaves number up from the electric-light bulb , like two folded newspaper publisher devotee facing each other , and light upon a elevation of 8 ” to 12 ” inches .
The leaves exit back during June and the gardener forget their presence until all of a sudden – SUPRISE !
At the height of summer , the Lycoris institutionalise up a large chaff with rose - discolor buds , which reaches 28 ” to 34 ” inch and is in full blossom within a calendar week .
As many as eight lily - like blossoms can split forth , reserve richly on the pale green scape .
The prime are a delicate garden pink , touch with lavender and are sweet - scented . They last for a distance of meter remarkable for so slight and delicate a flower .
Lycoris A Hardy Lily
The Lycoris is hardy .
All it demand is to be engraft in well - drained soil in partial shade , to be given plenty of headway in the spring and not to be crowded when in prime .
Planted among the iris diaphragm , it blooms while the iris leaves are ripening , which yield foliage to the Lycoris and prime to the iris plants again .
The Lycoris should have a background of leaf , for its ticklish lavender - pinko blossoms do not shuffle well with the more brilliant August annuals .
The plant life and flowers seem to be immune to disease and the attacks of insects in my garden .
There are other Lycoris you ’ll find in the garden . Lycoris aureaknown as the “ Golden Hurricane Lily ” is one such species .
The Golden Hurricane Lily – Lycoris Aurea
Below is a personal story ofLycoris aureashared by Wyndham Hayward .
The previous oriental Amaryllid , Lycoris aurea , came to us from China and Taiwan several century ago .
Eventually , it adjust itself to the lowly south and became have it off as thegolden hurricane lilyaround St. Augustine , Florida , where was common in sometime gardens .
There , during the September hurricane season , it is one of the most beautiful flowering bulbs in all the Earth .
Lycoris Aurea Hardy In The South
Lycoris is reasonably hardy in the southernmost states but can be grown in pots in glasshouse far north .
The works makes its leafage in crepuscule and wintertime .
In late outpouring , the leaves die off , and the bulb remains dormant in the ground through all the warm , rainy season .
Then , in September , the equinoctial rains encourage the gaudy spike of striking bloom to appear .
The latitude of northeast Florida seems ideally suit to trough bulb . It was here , in a garden in Monticello , Florida I observe some of the largest bulb ofLycoris aureaI had ever seen .
They were nearly three inch in diam .
The flowers of an old - metre case of lycoris seen in St. Augustine has been slowly “ put back . ”
Nipponese electric light dealers back in the 1950 ’s begin exporting to America stock of a variety of the coinage , possibly originating in Taiwan .
This “ new ” type is superior in many characteristics , such as greater vigor of stem and heyday and panoptic petals .
The color is a fat Au , several shades lighter than the golden orange of the St. Augustine type .
Bulbs are useable from bulb dealers online and in catalogs .
