I hope a successful northern grower of these bulbs will help... I, too, have planted the hardier Lycoris, but have had no luck getting them to grow and flower.

I planted a dozen or so last fall, along with a plethora of spring blooming bulbs. The bed was prepped and amended, and the area gets full sun. Some leaves grew shortly after being planted, but didn't amount to much before winter. This spring, they made a feeble attempt to grow, and some leaves came up again. Then... nothing. No blooms, and the leaves slowly disappeared.

I'm wondering if some tunneling varmint ate or destroyed them... I'll dig and check when I put in the new fall bulbs I have.

Back to the Lycoris... I recently received a nice batch of bulbs to plant this fall... I'm trying the Lycoris again. What is the proper planting time, and are there any secrets to growing these that I'm missing? I'd dearly love for this new batch to settle in and bloom next year. Instead of just a dozen, I'll be putting in about 40 bulbs this time.

I know I'm farther south than the two of you, but L. squamigera should be hardy for you. They do sometimes take a few years to settle in before blooming, and every bulb won't bloom every year, even after that. Mine are in heavy clay, and they do fine once established. Jodi, the leaf growth cycle you describe is natural - they will leaf out early in spring, then die down before summer. It wouldn't hurt to hit them with some balanced fertilizer when the leaves are in full growth, but other than that you can leave 'em alone. "Naked ("nekked" in these parts) Ladies" need as much sun as they can get while in leaf, but can handle deep shade after that (they don't need shade, but it helps the blooms last longer in the heat of summer), so siting them under deciduous trees works well. Nothing should be eating the bulbs, since, as amaryllids, they're at least unpalatable, and possibly toxic, to gnawing critters. I guess what I'm trying to say is that these Lycoris are pretty easy, but require lots of patience; hang in there!

Yes, do keep in mind that it will very likely take til next year before they bloom. I moved a group of mine last fall, they came up nicely this spring, but that group did not bloom. If you purchased them, depending on where you received them, they may not have been completely mature bulbs either. I know it is tempting to dig them up to see if they are still there, but you may lose next year's bloom also.

Thanks for the information! Ok... I'll leave them alone, and assume they're still there. I know they take a while to get settled and grow good root systems... I was just disappointed in the small amount of leaf growth this year. I would have thought they'd need to grow to store energy for bloom.

I'll just put the new batch in, and keep an eye on their growth, too.

Thanks again.

thanks for the information too.

like an idiot i forgot to check the box that sends me notices that someone responded to my post. so here i am
surfing thru the bulb forum looking for information about lycoris and reading my own post. duh.

diggerb

I just checked this out after replying to my post on the 2 questions I had, asking if there was more than one kind of what I called Surprise Lilies. I just bought 2 bulbs for almost $6.00 a piece, and didn't realize that's what they were. The pink on the tag looks brighter than the Surprise Lilies I've seen before. In fact, the apartment my dd used to live at had quite a few there, and I could have moved some to my yard if I'd gotten around to it. I probably still could. Are they easy to dig and move?

Diggerb, I hope you don't mind I asked another question on your thread. I hope your bulbs grow and have lots of blooms.

Sue

There are a few bulbs that share that common name. Pictures on tags aside (Photoshop does a remarkable job of changing colors), your new bulbs might be Amaryllis belladonna, which is also sold as "surprise lily" because it has a similar bloom cycle to Lycoris. It, however, is nowhere near as hardy, and would never make it in zone 5 except, perhaps, as a house plant. Its foliage is greener and shinier than that of the Lycoris (L. squamigera's leaves look like wide daffodil foliage, with a matte finish and a bluish cast), and want to grow throughout the winter, starting right about now. The foliage of L. squamigera doesn't appear until early spring, which increases its hardiness.

Lycoris are easy to move - the best time is right after they bloom, if you can locate the bulbs. Be prepared to wait a year or two for them to get re-established before they decide to bloom.

After doing a little bit of reading on L. squamigera, and observing the old patch that grows and blooms close to the the east wall of the house, I've decided to plant my newly acquired batch of bulbs in the semi-shaded, open-woods area of our corner garden... I think they will be very happy there, once established.

The area is quite frigid and windy during winter months, but if planted deeply and mulched well, the bulbs should be fine. By next spring, I should see a nice patch of strap-leaf foliage growing in the semi-dappled shade of the few willows and other trees in our Corner Shade Garden.

To those who posted, thanks for all the information on these beauties! It seems all I need now is a bit of patience!

patience is right! I planted fresh bulbs one fall, they didn't bother growing the whole next year (not even leaves) and then finally sprouted a few leaves a year and a half later..... but then I had to dig them up to move them to the new house!

If they survive all that, then they do deserve the hard to kill reputation.... I just hope I see a bloom one of these days!

I've got half a mind to pot up a few and keep them as part of the container garden grown every year! Then, I'd simply over-winter them with the other perennials I keep in pots.

It is rather frustrating to hear and read how easy a plant is to grow, and see photos of how beautiful they are in other yards, but not have the same luck in your own yard!

It's only been since last fall that I planted the dozen I bought, so I know those will take a bit to settle in, and this new batch will probably take another 2 years to settle and do anything to speak of... patience is, without a doubt, a gardener's best friend! If we could only buy that at the garden center, too! LOL!