Surprise Lillies

The recent, long-awaited rain brought more than just a boost to our vegetable garden.

My sister went outside a couple of days ago and was inspired to take this photo of lilies that suddenly sprang up after the rain.

Her text message that she sent along with the photo said, "I am sending u some pics of some surprise lilies for ur blog when u have a chance to use them ... I don't know the real name ... I just know I was surprised yesterday when I came out and saw them blooming ..."

I knew what they were the minute I saw the photo because we recently had an article about Spiderlilies in our September/October issue of Newnan-Coweta Magazine.

Evidently, they are late-season bloomers that originated in Japan and brought to America during the time of Commodore Matthew Perry's diplomatic mission there in 1853. They understandably became popular in the south since they add a touch of brilliant color just when things are turning brown and gearing up for winter.

Red Spiderlily or Lycoris radiata, is also known as "naked lady, British soldier, surprise lily and rain lily." I know this courtesy of Katheryn McCall's Thoughtful Gardener feature in every issue of our magazine. I always look forward to her thoughtful and educational articles and I find that after almost every article, the plant featured (often not a plant or flower I am familiar with), suddenly shows up somewhere and surprises me with it's beauty or fragrance, or both, and I usually have to reread the article and look at the photos to learn more.

These perennial lilies have no foliage. The delicate flowers just spring up where they were planted and give us a treat for a few days -- a beautiful surprise.