Watch My Food Grow ~ A South Florida Raised Vegetable Garden

Florida Backyard Raised Vegetable Garden

Crinum Lilies

January 31st, 2013 by Lila Steinhoff

Florida’s Winter Advantage

Living in Florida has it’s benefits… among them January and February. The weather cools to the 60s and 70s, all the windows are opened and flowers bloom. January and February mean Crinum Lilies in my yard.

full bloomCrinum Lilies

Hardy Plant

Crinum Lilies are hardy plants. Mine appear to thrive on neglect. I planted them in a particularly desolate piece of ground as a last attempt to make it look a little better.

length of strip25-foot strip of Crinum Lilies

Besides having a yard that is mostly sand, the strip of yard between my fence and the curb has no regular source of water and is in direct sunlight all day long. Twenty years ago, I started with the ‘babies’ from around the bottom of one plant and was able to grow a strip of lilies 25 feet long. I would throw a handful of fertilizer around them once in a while, but I wasn’t sure of the outcome.

I had a WINNER! They grew where nothing else would… not even grass.

From Bud to Bloom

The bud pods are very large… usually about six to seven inches. They pop up from the base of the plant near the ground.

early podNew Bud Pod

The stems are substantial at about one and a half inches in diameter. You would think they could support nearly anything.

fully developed podBud Pod

However, as the lilies open, the flowers become so heavy that the stem leans down on the ground and takes the blooms with it.

lying on the groundBlooms Lying on the Ground

Tie them Up

tied to fenceBlooms Tied to Fence

When the flowers open and become very heavy, I use my chain link fence for support. I use a wide strip of muslin, loosely wound around the stem and tied to the fence. By doing so, I can enjoy the flowers that open, a few at a time, over a period of a week to ten days.

So Beautiful

I am adding a gallery of pictures of my Crinum Lilies. One or two pictures just don’t do them justice. Lots are better. Click on any picture to make it larger, then click on the right or left side of the image to move through the gallery.

 

 

 

 

 

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