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[SG] Clarification

Dear Boese Family:

Since you live in zone 5 or 6 (with 10-below winters), I presume you are
talking about Lycoris squamigera, which IS a member of the Amaryllis
family and puts up pink flowers in Sept on bare green stems after the
leaves have died back. Wyman's Encyclopedia gives its common name as
Autumn Amaryllis, but I have also heard them called Resurrection Lilies,
Surprise Lilies, and Naked Ladies. They are a common passalong plant
because they are very prolific and easy to grow and nothing seems to
bother them.

Kathleen, if you are still with us, pls correct me if I'm wrong, but when
you said you had overwintered an amaryllis in zone 5 I figured you meant
one of the big (usually red) hippeastrums that are very tender and can be
forced to bloom indoors around Winter Solstice time. Please confirm! My
hunch is that you planted it in the spring of 97, and the winter of 97 in
our area was unusually mild (thanks to El Nino), so the bulb survived in
the ground. We normally get at least 10 below, sometimes 20 below; this
past winter we only got to about l1 above. The USDA bases zones on the
minimum winter temps (averaged of course). 10 degrees above would put us
in zone 7, I think. It will probably never happen again!

And when the rest of you in zone 5 said you would love to be able to grow
Amaryllis outdoors through the winters, I was assuming you also meant
Hippeastrum. If you do mean Lycoris squamigera, you should be able to find
a source nearby; gardeners who have it are usually delighted to share with
others.

Bobbi Diehl
Bloomington, IN
zone 5/6

On Sat, 20 Jun 1998, The Boese Family wrote:

> In a couple of weeks I will have some old fashioned Amaryllis bulbs
> that my great grandmother first planted bef. 1890 when my grandmother
> was born.  They are light pink/white with a tinge of green at times.
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