Pink Rain Lilies

Zephyranthes grandiflora  are pink rain lilies. They typically bloom when it rains after a dry spell and  usually bloom several times over the course of summer. I had some white ones once, but they have not bloomed this year.

 Although the individual flowers do not last a long time, they are a joy to see spring up so quickly and beautifully. These are in my main flower bed.

I got a book from the library called Garden Bulbs for the South by Scott Ogden. I never knew there were so many different kinds and colors of Rain lilies. They are in all shades of white, pink, rose, and even yellows. Many of the ones he describes seem to be native to Texas and drier areas west of the Mississippi.  Many of the ones he lists are native species. Here in the southeast we often see Atamasco lilies along the roadsides in wet areas. They only bloom once a year and are white. Some of the other white species bloom more than once if conditions are right.

Atamasco Lily

 

I first saw these lilies when I was taking systematic botany in college.Even though I had grown up in the country and woods, there were many plants that I had never seen before I took that class. I was in the first class in systematics that John Freeman taught at Auburn University, and I credit the class to opening my eyes to what is growing around me. At that time he was just a kid, only a year or so older than the students he was teaching. I can still hear his gravelly voice when anyone would say that did not know what a plant was. He would say, "Well, did you ask it?" By this he meant to look carefully at the plant's characteristics and compare it to something we already knew. The year was 1969, and he took us a field trip to the Wildflower Pilgrimage to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was a pivotal point for me in many ways.I saw many people, including John, who were so excited over the blooming woods and meadows that it sparked an excitement in me that has never waned. It was also on that trip that I became acquainted with my future husband and we were married less than a year afterward. Not many years have passed since then when we didn't make our own pilgrimage to the Smokies to see the early flowers and refresh our souls in the hills and waterfalls.
The simple beauty of an Atamasco lily is unbeatable.