Gloriosa Lily

 This is Gloriosa Lily, a beautiful colorful flower That has climbing tendrils at the end of the leaves. It can grow to 9/10 feet tall, although mine usually top out at about 5/6 feet. They can stand alone at first, but as they get taller and the buds begin to develop, they lean or flop and without support will scramble along the ground. They willingly reach out and take hold of any available support, plant or trellis.
 Gloriosa is a member of the Cholchicaceae, and as you might guess is poisonous, so don't eat any.
I have been growing mine for many years and originally purchased one from a home gardener in south Alabama. Through the years it has spread to the point that I have quite a nice group now.
 The bulbs are flat and do not clump as most lilies. They form new plants at a distance of a couple of feet from the last plant. I have successfully moved one to another bed, but always feel anxious about how to do it. I think the best way is to wait til they begin to die back and then move them. Once they have died back, they are hard to find underground and you run the risk of damaging the bulbs.
The sources say they are only hardy in zones 10 and 11 and zone 9 with mulch. I did not know that and mine have always thrived in my zone 8 garden. Full sun is best, but they can be perfectly beautiful in some shade.

Gloriosa Lily

This beautifully striking lily is unusual in that its stem or stalk is more vine-like. It is unable to support its own weight and forms tendrils on the ends of the leaves. These wrap around any available support (I grow mine by an old rusty fence) and up they go. They can also scramble through shrubs that have smaller stems. Gloriosa hails from tropical areas in Africa, but some also are found in Asia. They do just fine in zone 8 though, dying back in winter. They grow from flat tubers. I have not been brave enough to try to dig any of mine up or try to propagate them. I did accidently dig one up last year and moved it  but have seen nothing of it this year.

Gloriosa Lily

 

A number of years ago on a trip to South Alabama (LA, or Lower, Alabama  to those in the know), I detoured by a house that had a day lilies for sale sign in the yard. LA appears to be the home of day lilies with a good number of homes offering them for sale. but on this occasion I was looking for something I had read about in one of my horticulture journals. Gloriosa Lily seemed a contradiction in terms. How could you have a climbing lily? But the pictures I had seen were unique and colorful, so in typical fashion-I don't grow it-I want it I started trying to chase this plant down. When I asked about it, the lady got a distant look in her eyes and said she might have one if she could find the bulbs.After several false starts digging in the sandy soil, she came up with a couple of flat things that I would have hesitated to call a bulb. they bloomed the next year and every year since. No telling what they would have done in the intervening years if I had planted it in a good spot. I planted it with an eye to what it could climb on, not the soil. It has done well in spite of me.
After the stem gets about 4 or 5 leaves it begins to lean and "search" for support. At the end of each leaf a tendril forms that will grab anything handy, another plant, shrub, fence, etc that will support it. My taller ones reach 6 feet. They last a long time on the plant and are purported to last even longer in a vase, but I cannot bear to cut them.The bulbs are two pronged and  thus double in number each year. I have been thinking of digging some of mine up and putting them in a better spot. But then I have been thinking of that for years. Maybe this fall.....