Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Resurrection lilies
Looking as though they appear from nothing, Resurrection lilies rise from the soil in all their glory this time of year.
I remember moving into my “new-to-me” home in 2012 and scoping out what the previous owner chose to plant, and deciding what l would do with those gifts.
When the Resurrection Lily suddenly appeared I was so taken by it. I’d never seen one before. A native of South Africa, the lily gets its name because in spring it grows beautiful foliage, by midsummer the leaves shrivel up as if the plant is dead and nothing looks like it’s going to happen.
The previous owner told me that I wouldn’t see this flower coming and I didn’t. I have since renovated all the areas and moved the lilies several times, at one point thinking I’d killed it.
Not only have they come back in my vegetable garden, they continue multiplying and one also snuck into my perennial bed. Actually it was there for a couple of years but never flowered till THIS year!
The resurrection lily goes by a variety of other common names, including the belladonna lily, the naked lady and the magic lily.
Then, much to my delight, large lily blossoms appear on top of the bare stems. The resurrection lily prefers full sun but will tolerate some shade.
The stalk grows to over 2 feet tall and produces about 6 flowers per stalk. The color is a pale pink to almost purplish color. Plant bulbs 5-6” deep and 6” apart in fall. Mulch the first winter while the bulbs establish and to prevent heaving. This lily will naturalize by bulb-offsets. Most of the websites say to give your resurrection lily moderate water during the summer. I’ve never babied it and it just keeps making more!
The blue tips just blew me away! This is the first year I’ve seen this much blue color! This is the 3rd year they’ve been in this particular spot.
