Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Welcome to hurricane season

Atlantic hurricane season begins today & I am delighted to report it has been raining plenty already.  For days.  Every afternoon or so, a gully washer clears away the dust & grime & more things bloom after each deluge.  Among those blooming things, one of my favorites, the rain lilies.

I grow Zephyranthes despite the fact they are poisonous to poultry, despite the reality they. like day lilies, rarely offer a flower that lasts two days.  The rest of the year, they are at best small clumps of narrow leaves that barely fill a border.

In years of drought, though, they are the first proof that there was enough rain, that there will be more rain, that another rainy season is at hand.

They seemed an appropriate way to open Hurricane Season- they are also called zephyr lilies.

1 comment:

  1. don't you love rain lilies? i have a few that i got from my mom's garden last year - they've already multiplied quite a bit. i just have to keep telling my boys that it's not grass or weeds...leave them alone.

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