Purchase Area Master Gardener Association

(PAMGA)

Spider Lily or Hurricane Lily
Lycoris radiata

According to Felder Rushing in his book, Tough Plants for Southern Gardens, spider lily "bulbs send up leaves in the fall, which need sunlight in the winter to form the flower buds that will emerge in late August or September.  Because these bulbs need sun only in the winter, they make excellent summer understory flowers beneath deciduous trees and shrubs, even in summer-shaded lawns and among ground covers.  Often seen in shady, overgrown, abandoned gardens, they are also popular cemetery plants because their foliage appears after mowing has stopped for the fall and ripens before mowing begins in the spring."  To propagate, Rushing suggests dividing bulbs immediately after flowering in late summer and either replanting immediately or storing dry until fall.

Lycoris radiata 'Alba' submitted by Master Gardener Shirley Edwards

Purchase Area Master Gardener Association, 2705 Olivet Church Road, Paducah, Ky 42001 270/554-9520  FAX 270/554-8283  www.pamga.org