The other day as I was driving down one of our local streets on the way to an appointment, a bright splash of pink entered my peripheral vision. Now this appears to happen to me quite often…I can be just driving along, minding my own business when the plant kingdom seems to shout out at me to stop. I am often quickly glancing into my rear-view mirror, indicating and screeching to a halt on the side of the road somewhere!
On this particular day the beautiful tall and shapely flowers of the Naked Ladies or Belladonna Lily’s (Amaryllis belladonna) had caught my eye.
This particular one was such an intense bright pink when most of the time I have seen very pale pink ones. The plant grows from a bulb and the thick, purple stems appear first above the ground. They are about 50cm high or so and then the stunning, trumpet shaped, fragrant flowers appear. It is because of the stalk appearing with no leaves that the plant gets its name ‘Naked Ladies.’
Another great thing about this plant is how drought hardy they are. They seem to require very little attention and I have seen their beauty bursting forth from the most hostile places and conditions.
I really don’t mind my day being interrupted by all these gorgeous flowering plants that I stop top visit. Even my kids don’t mind anymore… except when we do the eight hour journey to Melbourne during wildflower season!
At first I thought, why Naked Ladies now? They’re fall bloomers.
Oh, yeah…it’s fall in your neck of the woods. It’s so cool to talk with you Aussies and contemplate our seasonal opposites.
I do the same thing. I need a bumper sticker that reads, “Will brake for plants.” I’ll go “Look at that tree!” And my girls are like, “Phuleez Mom, it’s just a plant.” (Teenagers) Someday they’ll understand what you and I know.
Beautiful photos.
They are gorgeous!
(…and I’m wondering how many google hits you are going to get with that blog title
Well, so that’s what they’re called! I’ve seen them for years but never know what they were. Thanks.