"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
Luke 12:27
One of my favorite seasons has always been Fall. When we moved here in Summer 06; in the middle of a heat wave; I immediately began looking forward to Fall. It was HOT! Much to my dismay, Fall didn't come until the end of November; the leaves didn't' really change; they just turned brown and fell off. I was very disappointed. I thought for sure, living among tall hardwoods would yield me a colorful array of leaves to marvel at. What I did find here, was quite a surprise; something I have never seen before. ...curious little red frilly looking flowers, popping up on tall stems in random places...along the roads...haphazardly growing in ditches and along tree lines...driving to Sonic everyday became an "Easter Egg Hunt" of sorts, as I scanned the roadsides for these curious looking flowers.
I googled them, and discovered that they are called "Spider Lilies", because the bloom looks like a spider. It is quite spectacular up close...very dainty. They are also sometimes called "Surprise Lilies", and "Naked Ladies". I decided I had to have some of these unusual specimens. To say they were out of my price range would be an understatement...the bulbs were $10 apiece online. I decided to beg and barter for some of my own. I found my first lily in the woods back behind Bruce's house; where the new walking trail weaves now... I knocked on a couple of doors, where lilies seemed to be growing in ditches by people's houses, and over the course of a couple of weeks, I'd acquired quite a collection of lily bulbs...I paid one older gentlemen $20 for some in his yard...and he even helped me dig them up! I also exchanged a pecan pie for a few as well, to another old guy.
By winter, the blooms faded (they only lasted about two weeks), and then the foliage comes up, and it stays green and full all winter. Now, I have quite a few lilies, and even collected enough to send to my Mom, to my sister and my friend Lou in Oklahoma.
Every September, precisely the first week, up comes the stem, literally overnight, then the flower opens...it is a reminder to me that things to do indeed change; life goes by so fast sometimes; but some things remain unchanged, predictable and yet comfortably out of our control...it reminds me of a Biblical promise that is sometimes overlooked;
Genesis 8:22
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.
Take time this week in your comings and goings to try and spot a few of these jewels. And psst...let me know if you see any abandoned ones that need to be dug up!
6 comments:
I remember last year when you went around looking for these things! That is the only way I knew what they were when they popped up in front of our light post. They are back too! :)
I love lilies and yes they are very expensive. We used fake ones for our wedding but they looked real. Gotta love Hobby Lobby!!! I need to try to find some to plant in my yard. If I see some growing and no one to claim them I'll let you know and we can go digging. I might see some on the way to my parents house.
ok kelly..i am reading! Are these also called "Peruvian lillies"?? I planted some bulbs like that one time and they came up once. Eddie probably thought the remainder was a weed and pulled it up.
We have these and, yep, they just popped up out of nowhere. I'll give you a deal...$15 since you have to drive to the country :)
Peruvian Lilly's are white, I have some of those too...the greenery on Peruvians is really thick, spider lily leaves are thin, like ornamental grass...in Ok, you'd probably have to dig them up and store them in the fridge over the winter...I"m guessing you'd probably not do that...or something dug them up, like a mole, or a squirrel.
These remind me of my grandmother. She has surprise lilies in her front yard.
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