Introducing Miss Amaryllis Belladonna

                                   

The Surprise Lily, also known as The Naked Lady Lily, isn't a Lily at all. This beauty, is in fact, a member of the Amaryllis family, and is known specifically as          Amaryllis Belladonna.

She appears twice a year, once in early spring and again in the dry and harsh heat of later summer. Her first appearance catches your attention because the foliage is so verdant and full. But on her second appearance she can stop you in your tracks with her stunning and simple beauty. 

In May to early June, this flower's long leggy stems with dangling leaves on either side, emerge out of the garden's earth. There's no sign of bud or eventual flower at this point. She remains like this for a few weeks, using the sunlight to synthesize the food and nutrients she'll need to continue on her underground journey. The stem and leaves die down as though never to be seen again. Back into the garden's earth they go. 

In early August, she's a lady-in-waiting as she patiently stands in readiness to reemerge. When her shoots push through the hard soil they do so speedily; within a day or two her perfectly straight stems are two feet tall. At their tip is a light pink conical-shaped bud which divides into six mauve-colored pedal envelopes. 

The pedal envelopes don't delay in opening; it seems there's an eagerness to show off the glistening pink blooms situated on top of the leaf-lacking stem.  

As to be surveying her surroundings, she stands proud atop a small knoll and under a Mulberry tree at Harris Road House, (this knoll coincidentally contains some of the poorest soil on the property). She's with us for about a week, then without much ado, fades away for another long, three-season sleep. 

I came to know this flower upon moving into our 1852, Victorian farmhouse in 2019. I actually didn't notice her until the spring of 2021, when she caught my eye and admiration for the first time. For the turning of the seasons and for our simple visual pleasure, she keeps coming back every year.

Time and again evidence of the love of beauty held by Janette, the former long-time matron and lover of this home and land, has been revealed in the unexpected uncovering and discovery of her previous, well-manicured gardens. For decades it seems she imagined, cultivated and built, spaces of pleasure and peace.  

I feel I've been honored with the task to keep her legacy living through the gardens on this land. In my own way, and for as long as I'm able, I'll do just that.