Surprise Lilies

Surprise lilies at the front of my missouri home. (charlotte ekker wiggins photo)

Surprise Lilies

Surprise lily season is almost a month early this year, which is another surprise in itself. Every morning I walk to try to spot the various places these stalks are raising buds. Oh, I planted them in spring; by now I don't remember where.

Surprise lilies, also known as magic lilies, naked ladies, and resurrection lilies, are native to Southeast China, Japan, and Korea. They have been available in the United States since 1880 and I think of them as the north American cousin to tropical Amaryllis. The big difference is that surprise lilies are perennials; once planted, they stay outside re-blooming from year to year.

The surprise lily is named for its habit of blooming in mid-summer, after its leaves have died back. The flowers appear suddenly on naked stems, hence the name "surprise lily" and, where I live, "naked ladies." Helps to raise an eyebrow a la Groucho Marx when you say it.

Surprise lilies are hardy in USDA zones 5-9. They prefer full sun to partial shade and well-drained soil. They are drought-tolerant once established and one of the few plants that bloom through our hot Midwest weather.

To plant surprise lilies, dig a hole that is twice the width and depth of the bulb. Place the bulb in the hole, pointed side up. I add bone meal whenever I'm planting bulbs, a handful per bulb, to give them a good start. Cover bulb with soil. Water the soil well. Forget where you planted them. I am an expert at this step.

Green leaves will grow in spring, collecting sunlight and storing it in the bulbs. Surprise lily greenery will grow for about a month.
Mid-summer, surprise lily flowers will bloom for 2-4 weeks. After the flowers have faded, the stems will die back. The bulbs will go dormant until the following spring.

Surprise lilies make great cut flowers. Their sweet scent can easily fill a room in a few minutes, making them nice flowering gifts.

Cut them early morning when the flowers are still in bud form. I usually add one in bloom so it's clear what the buds will become.

I also have native pink phlox growing in my garden. They are still in bloom when surprise lilies show up so they make a nice combination.

Both Surprise lilies and native pink phlox are pollinator favorites. Bumblebees mine the Surprise lily nectar while getting covered in pollen; butterflies, hummingbirds and hummingbird moths keep the native pink phlox company.

Why Plant Surprise Lilies

If you are looking for a beautiful and unexpected addition to your garden, consider planting surprise lilies for beauty and pollinator food:

• The flowers are white or pink and have a sweet fragrance.

• The plants can reach a height of 2-3 feet.

• The bulbs can live for many years.

• Surprise lilies are a good choice for pollinator gardens; bumblebees and moth orchids love them.

• They are deer-resistant.

• They can be planted among other perennials that fill in around them.

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  Charlotte

Surprise Lilies

Surprise lilies are North America’s cousin to tropical Amaryllis. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Surprise Lilies

One of the reasons I know August is around the corner is because “naked ladies” are popping up around town, and in my hillside garden. A cousin of South American Amaryllis, the pink flowers on top of two to three-foot stems are also known as surprise lilies, Resurrection lilies and August lilies because the stems seem to pop up out of nowhere.

Surprise lilies have been cultivated for centuries in their native Japan. They were first introduced to American gardeners around 1880.

There are a number of different colors and shapes; the most well known variety here is the pink surprise lily, Lycoris squamigera.

Surprise lilies store energy in bulbs that can grow to 3 inches wide. One-inch wide green leaves emerge in late winter or early spring and then turn yellow and die away. The plants go dormant until flowers emerge in mid-summer, which allows them to survive prolonged periods of summer drought.

Overnight, they seem to pop out of the ground with little fanfare, often growing several inches from one day to the next!

Surprise lilies are quite hardy and easy to grow. They grow well in full sun, part shade, and even heavy shade. By planting them in different sunlight conditions, I can extend the surprise lily season in my garden from mid-summer through the green dearth of August, when little starts blooming. They also thrive in both sandy and heavy clay soils.

These surprise lilies are growing in shade in my apiary. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Because bulbs multiply, it’s best to dig them up and divide them every 5 years or so. I think about dividing them but I am not that disciplined. I do have several patches around my hillside garden only because I inadvertently dug them up when planting something else in a spot I thought was vacant.

They look best planted in clusters.

Depending on your soil, bulbs can be planted from 3-6 inches deep - the deeper the better so they can be assured winter protection. Like daffodils, surprise lilies are toxic to deer, mice and other bulb-eating garden residents, including insects.

To transplant, dig up bulbs in spring after leaves have turned yellow.

They can also be dug up after blooms fade in August, assuming soil is not as hard as concrete from lack of rain. Plant them quickly after digging them up so roots have enough time to establish themselves before the first hard frost.

I love seeing them clearly when they bloom but you can also plant them in the middle of a garden bed so the naked stems will be covered by surrounding plants. If you enjoy pink tulips in spring, like in these pink tulips quilts, you will enjoy having the pink pop of color mid-summer.

Blooms are long lasting and fragrant, making them good cut flowers. I like to put them in a clear flower vase so I can enjoy how the stems curl up at the bottom. They are also pollinator favorites, especially bumblebees and humningbird moths.

Charlotte

Surprise Lilies

Surprise Lilies

Several friends have told me they are a bit worried this year. Their surprise lilies Lycoris squamigera have popped up earlier than usual, they said, starting to bloom mid-July as opposed to early August. Is this one of those signs that winter will also be earlier than usual?

Also called Resurrection lilies, mine also started to pop up mid-July but, as I told them, the plant name suggests trying to time when these perennials bloom is probably not a good idea. After all, it’s supposed to be unexpected, isn’t it?

According to the Missouri Botanical Garden, plants in the genus Lycoris are sometimes commonly called resurrection flower, surprise lily or magic lily because the leaves disappear in summer with the flower spikes seemingly rising from the dead in late summer.

And while I am on the background of this delightful plant family , the genus name Lycoris is in honor of Mark Anthony’s mistress, and it wasn’t Cleopatra.

North America's Amaryllis Cousin

Surprise lilies are north American cousins to the Amaryllis we tend to see for sale around Christmas.  The Christmas Amaryllis won’t survive our Midwest winters but surprise lilies are perennials in our USDA zone 5b growing area.

Surprise lily leaves appear in spring, collecting energy through those leaves and storing it in the below ground bulbs, then turning the leaves yellow and dying off. Then mid-summer, seemingly all of a sudden, a green stalk with buds at the top appear, heralding the arrival of what some people also call the “naked ladies.”

The princess pink aromatic flowers last several days as cut flowers.  The green stems will curl up at the bottom of a flower vase, forming an interesting artistic pattern all of their own.

Surprise lilies have been a popular landscaping addition for a number of decades in the Midwest and sometimes mark abandoned homesteads.

How to Care for Surprise Lilies

If you have surprise lilies in your garden, or are given bulbs to plant, these are relatively low maintenance.

Surprise lily bulbs should be separated every 5 years or so or they will grow too thick to bloom.

The best time to move surprise lily bulbs is right after they bloom. I have also successfully moved surprise lilies as the green leaves were dying off mid-spring. Regardless of when you dig them up, start a good 5 inches from the edge of where you think the bulbs are so you don’t cut into the bulbs.

If the ground is dry, wet it down first before digging up the bulbs to minimize damage to roots.

Transplant to an area with room to grow. I mix compost and some aged mulch into the soil to help the bulbs get a good start once they are ready to grow.

I also try to plant them where I will remember they are located so I am not digging into them later thinking this is a free spot to plant something else.

Intersperse surprise lilies with pink phlox and plant them behind daylilies and iris, which provide the plants some cover as they bloom.

Surprise lily leaves early spring, collecting energy in the bulb for later blooming. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Surprise lilies in my garden are a welcome harbinger of spring. Their little leaves pop out of the ground, growing quickly if they get spring rain.

Charlotte

Naked Ladies

Surprise lilies, also called naked ladies, make lovely cut flowers.

Naked Ladies

When I started doing a live Rolla radio interview a few years back, I would take fresh flowers in from my garden.

Both radio personalities Lee Buhr and Bob McKune seemed to enjoy the flowers, and it was a fun way to relate to radio listeners. For the following days after the interview, people would approach me with their stories about a particular flower or on-air discussion.

One year, I had to step away for a few minutes before the interview so I snuck the flowers into the studio.

It was a vase of surprise lilies, also called resurrection lilies or magic lilies.

Surprise lilies get their nickname from their habit of blooming on naked stalks.

A cousin to the popular Amaryllis bulbs available around Christmas, surprise lilies leaf out in spring, then die back until mid-July, when one green stalk makes its way out of the ground and soft pink blooms appear on the top for several days.

One surprise lily can fill a room with its sweet fragrance.

As cut flowers, surprise lily stalks have an interesting habit of curling up at the bottom, giving them a very modern look in a clear glass vase.

Perennial bulbs originally from the East - either Japan or China, surprise lilies are found on old farmsteads in Missouri, almost as popular as daffodils and day lilies.

When I got back to the radio station, I was told the phones were ringing off the hook.

Thinking it was due to some discussion Lee and Bob were having, I thought nothing of it when Bob motioned me to enter the studio.

We had a nice discussion about surprise lilies and what else was growing in my garden, a few words about an upcoming event and I was through.

As I was getting back to my office, someone asked if I had heard what Bob had said as my introduction to the interview.

"Bob said coming up next, naked ladies in the studio."

That's another name for surprise lilies, but to this day there are some people who bring it up as if they need confirmation impish Bob wasn't talking about me!

Charlotte