by September 13, 2022
Last week I came home from a trip to Santa Fe to see oxblood lilies in the back garden and they were burning. Yesterday, after a weekend trip to Houston, I found a second round in Burning Flowers. Bonus!
oxblood lily (Rhodophiala bifida) late summer bulbs from Argentina, which were brought to Central Texas by resettling German immigrants in the late 1800s, are a passalong — but also purchasable. They love our hot, humid subtropical climate.
Aren’t they dreamers? These heralds of fall have me dreaming of 80-degree fall weather.
My bulbs are raised in the backyard raised bed, which makes it easy to admire those red trumpets atop the short stems.
Nearby, ‘Peppy Le Pom’ dwarf pomegranate is adding its own warm color. Also notice the hot-pink of the fallen crepe myrtle flowers. After the recent rains that crepe is in full bloom and the tissue-petaled pink flowers continue to fall.
But oxbloods return to the star of the garden in late summer.
They will soon fade, and other fall flowering plants will take their place in the spotlight. But for now that glow of red makes my heart sing.
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dig deep
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All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Excavation. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
