A Conversation About All the Naked Ladies

This part of the summer in the garden can be confusing. Most of the annuals are in their glory, but the perennials seem to be catching their breath. The autumn showoffs like chrysanthemums and aster, goldenrod and Japanese anemone are getting ready to dazzle us.                                                                The transitional period is when the naked ladies pop up. They are not as well known as many other flowering bulbs, and often are greeted with amazement by first time observers.  They’re not a widespread choice of flower, and I’m not sure why. The bulbs are a little expensive, but they form colonies quickly. I see them most often in the yards of old farmhouses where they have room to spread out. Maybe it’s because there is room for them to work through their life span without fear of some other plant being stuffed into their space.  The clusters of pink trumpets are eye-catching at their prime, and easily tidied away when bloom finishes.

They are the stars of the show for more than their provocative name.  Formally known as Lycoris squamigera, they are a bulb originating in Asia that has been found in American gardens since about the 1880s. Even those of us who grow them are excited when the spears poke their snouts out of the soil unaccompanied by any leaves. We start anxiously looking for them about two weeks early, every year. They have an odd style of flowering unlike most other flowering plants. The leaves show up in the spring as large grey-green strappy clumps, stand around for a month or so, and die back without doing anything else aboveground. Then, in late summer, suddenly there’s an eruption of spears from the same spot. These are tipped with red buds and quickly leap to a two foot height. The buds burst out into a circle of trumpet shaped flowers, dusty pink with lavender overtones. They are closely related to the Amaryllis we see at Christmas time, and the similarity is easily observed.  These beauties have a whole lot of history behind their names. Naked Lady, magic lily, surprise lily and resurrection lily are the most common nicknames, because of their bold appearance without a modest skirt of foliage.  They also smell good and are popular with butterflies and hummingbirds.

The snow birds among us may be familiar with another Lycoris that thrives in the more southern zones. This is the radiata, a red flowering version that has naturalized in many places. The red ones reverse the leaf/flower timing, making foliage after flowering, to overwinter and then die off. Wherever you decide to grow them, Fall is recommended as the best planting time. (I prefer to lift them right after the leaves have died off because they’re easier to find and they don’t mind as long as I divide and replant immediately.) I took a quick look online and the bulbs are available from just about any bulb supplier, from Amazon to specialty bulb companies. If you like  Lycoris and enjoy the August timing, you might want some of the other summer flowering bulbs like Crocosmia and Peacock Orchids (Acidanthera), both natives of Africa. Crocosmia is a vivid red or orange and the Acidanthera is white, with a fabulous scent. Right now I have all three showing off in waves of color in my garden and it’s phenomenal! Episodes 20 and 83 of the Nature Calls, Conversations from the Hudson Valley discuss bulbs in depth at: https://ccecolumbiagreene.org/gardening/nature-calls-conversations-from-the-hudson-valley.