I found some growing in a field and asked for an id in a group which I'm not allowed to mention in this forum.

Suffice it to say, I learned they are lycoris squamigera, they are not true lilies, they are natives of Japan, and they are difficult to reproduce because, I was told it is a sterile hybrid between lycoris sprengeri and lycoris chinensis. On that basis, I have no idea why they popped up where they did.

They are also called Resurrection Lily or Surprise Lily (because the foliage pops up then appears to die back, they the flower stalk shoots up in late August for the ones I found). It is a member of the amaryllis family, not a true lily.

They are beautiful, and I wanted to dig these up, went to the trouble to find the property owner at the court house, then chickened out. Either way they were probably doomed; they were probably destined to be bulldozed for a new development or I wouldn't have been able to dig them out of that thick grass right. So I let it go.

I looked on the net to order some, but I want some just like this. The tips of the petals are true sky blue. Most of the ones I have seen have purplish tips. Either way they are beautiful.

They are propagated by dividing the bulbs after blooming.

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Those are really pretty, mine have only a blush of lavendar to them, & were rather puny last year. That was the 1st year they bloomed though, I'm hoping for better this year.

Mine are all pink and multiply readily. I assume they are lycoris squamageri as that is what normally grows here. When I planted them it took so long to see the bloom I dug most of them up, gave some away and threw away the rest keeping only 3. I would be careful dividing as you may have to wait for the newly ones planted to bloom. Either way, I love mine and find that they multiply pretty well, not as easily as the lycoris radiata. You may want to check into them on the bulb forum too.

Nancy

I was just looking at an old Brent & Becky's catalogue, they are apparently 2 different types, & look very similar in their pictures, but Belledonna is to zone 8 & squamageri to zone 5. Belledonna looks a bit fuller flower maybe, hard to tell from pics sometimes, but I like to know just what I have. Both are called naked ladies & seem to have the same habit.

I bought some Naked Ladies at a flower show in San Francisco two years ago. Brought them home and potted them up (I have gophers, and pot everything to be safe) although Naked Ladies of whatever family grow all along the roads here. These were smallish bulbs, smaller than the usual lily bulbs I've bought, maybe half the size of the amarylis bulbs I've bought... They leafed right out, and never ever bloomed. I unpotted them a few weeks ago to see what was/wasn't up. I - tried - to unpot them. Flexed the pot to loosen them. No flex at all. Flipped the pot upside down and whacked it on the table. No action. Whacked much harder and it started to slip out of the pot. Got 'it' out of the pot and examined it.

The bulbs have nearly doubled in size, were all jammed together and warped by being so squeezed, and the 5 bulbs had one massive root ball. I turned the hose on it, and spent about 20 minutes hosing and tickling the roots apart. We'll see if I get anymore leaves, or if any bloomage happens this year. I was just amazed at how large those bulbs had gotten, this is the first time I've had growth on that scale. What fun.