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| Photo Credit: Felder Rushing |
| Rain lilies, like Zephyranthes candida, pop up almost unexpectedly after summer and fall showers. |
We see the pictures: Bright, tall, gorgeous tulips that decorate the garden every spring. Unfortunately, those pictures seem to be the closest we warm-climate Southwesterners can get to having tulips in our own yards. But if you think that just because you live in the Southwest you can’t enjoy the beauty that bulbs bring to the garden, think again! There are a number of bulbs hardy to our region that we can grow, offering a splash of terrific color – and even naturalizing in our gardens.
One great Southwest selection is the little rain lily. Have you ever seen them popping up in summer or fall? They seem to appear out of nowhere, in rocky, difficult soils where you wouldn’t expect anything to grow, and in meadows crowded with grasses and forbs. After a rain shower, they can suddenly bring new life to worn-out landscapes with bright colors and delicate foliage. (Truly, you’ll wonder where they came from because they were nowhere in sight yesterday.) There are at least two recognized genera and several species of rain lily native to the Southwest, plus a multitude of hybrids in the trade. The little plants come in white, lemon yellow, rose-pink and hues in between. Botanists must have fun with rain lily because they name and rename it endlessly. Is it a Zephyranthes or a Cooperia? Habranthus, you say? It’s taxonomic chaos. Those names that are most prominent in the trade – and in the landscape – appear to have a stronghold on the genus Zephyranthes. (We can live with that, can’t we?) Likely the most widespread of these bulbs is a night-flowering species (pollinated by moths) – Z. chlorosolen (also known as Cooperia drummondii). This beauty is found through the Texas Hill Country of central Texas, the south Texas Brush Country, and into Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mexico and New Mexico. As I mentioned, it blooms at night, but if you rise early you can still see their white flowers dotting the landscape after early summer to fall showers. Rain lilies appear to know the difference between thundershowers and garden-hose water – it seems you can’t ever get them to flower uniformly with a sprinkler. My delicate little Z. candida limits its growth to rounded, pendulous leaves until we’re blessed with rain – preferably thunderstorms – that bring just enough nitrogen to force it to produce pretty white flowers with golden throats.
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