Have you checked out these Naked Ladies?

Have you checked out these Naked Ladies?

Don’t worry, I’m talking about the beautiful, fragrant, and totally weird flower that pops up this time of year, right after all its foliage had died back.

The Belladonna Amaryllis (AKA Belladonna Lily, AKA Resurrection Lily, AKA Naked Ladies) is ablaze just about everywhere sunny in late summer in the Bay Area. The plants display pink flowers on their naked red stems, some petals streaked with white, and some more magenta than pink.

As a transplant from the East Coast, I first saw these mysteriously pop up in my backyard. I would have called them Zombie Lilies, given their blood-red stalks eerily appearing from what looks like nothing but earth. The appearance of those red stalks also made me think of some evil alien fungus from a sci-fi horror movie.

Luckily, the Naked Ladies are not that sinister. Their green foliage appears in the winter lasts through spring and then dies back. A few months later, in the late summer, the flower stalks shoot up. They store the energy from their green leafy time in a bulb, and use it to produce the flowers. Weird, but kind of awesome, too.

And, you can divide clumps of those bulbs to produce more of them, if you are so inclined. Plus, the seeds they produce can grow into plants, but they must be planted when fresh, not dried. The ones in my yard are just at the end of their flowering, so I’m hoping to harvest some of those seeds and try planting some new ladies myself soon.If you have grown Naked Ladies, from seeds or root division, please let me know how it worked out in the comments below!

More Information

Sfgate.com: When Do You Plant Naked Ladies?
Amazon: Purchase Amaryllis Belladonna Bulbs



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