Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Naked Ladies


It's the season of Naked Ladies where I live. Their pink faces appear alongside the road and in almost every yard. Since the gophers tend to move the bulbs around, one never knows where they might appear in August. When I try to transplant the bulbs, they die. The Ladies (Amaryllis belladonna) want to do what they want to do, where they want to do it.  It is not just delicacy which makes my mother call them Surprise Lilies. If you pamper them in any way,  they will not bloom. They have no leaves at all right now--that's why they're called naked--but after the pink trumpet-shaped blooms die away, the greenery will come out and last until spring...if you leave it alone.

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