Blood lilies have their day in the sun



While my mother was away, these lovely lilies bloomed in her garden.  I always look forward to their annual blooming.  Once they die, there is nothing to show that they were there.  The "miracle" never ceases to amaze me, year on year.

Flowers of India gave me this information about the blood lilies.

Botanical name: Scadoxus multiflorus ssp. multiflorus Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family)
Synonyms: Haemanthus multiflorus
Blood lily is a beautiful flowering bulb from tropical Africa. The spectacular flowerhead is a huge spherical umbel consisting of up to 100 flowers, held clear of the foliage at the end of a solitary stem. Each plant will produce only one flowerhead in a season. Blood lily is a bulbous plant with leaves on short, speckled stalks. The flower stalk bears a rounded inflorescence, 8-12 cm across. The plant may live for many years and will flower annually indoors. During the growing season the plant needs bright light, if possible direct sunshine for two hours daily. During winter dormancy, light is unimportant but temperature should not drop below 13 degrees centigrade.

Comments

What beauties. They bring back memories of Delhi summers. My classmate gave me one she'd picked from her garden, and I can still remember its dewy freshness and perfection!
I cant grow them here - too much water in the soil? And yes, it is distressing that they 'vanish' completel!
Venkimayyu said…
Beautiful flowers!! Very interesting information indeed !!
Anonymous said…
They look so exotic I can't believe they are from Trishul's garden! such a good photo, even the write-up is informative.

You are keeping the blog alive and I hope our ikebana friends are also seeing this with the others. It was a nice feeling

Malathi