Now that the hurricane threat has mercifully passed, it's time to begin identifying more plants growing in my garden. There have been gorgeous lilies blooming in the side garden that I could not identify. At first I thought it was a Crinum, but the leaves did not fit the description in most of my reference books. The leaves of these lilies are strap-shaped and the blooms come up on a thick stalk of about 8 buds. The pictures I had seen as well as the lilies in the stores all had sword-shaped leaves. Well, sure enough I found out it truly is a Crinum lily and appears to be a Crinum bulbispermum or an Ellen Bosanquet. How did I find out? My friends at Plant Delights Nursery. There on page 13 of their latest catalog was a beautiful full color picture.

Crinum lilies are Florida natives and pretty easy to grow. They supposedly do well in full sun or semi-shade and adapt to either dry or wet soil. When we moved here, there were two or three clumps planted among a huge weed bed. I separated the bulbs and spread them around throughout the front and side gardens. What I have found is that the lilies in the semi-shade bed fare better than those in the full sun garden. I'm not quite sure why since they have been treated the same for food and water - the only difference is the amount of sun they receive. The lilies in the front garden have never flowered while those on the side have flowered twice. When it gets a bit cooler, I may relocate those in the front and let them join their sisters in the other garden. We'll see then how well they do. Happy Florida Gardening.