The Eternal Flower

  Back years ago,  Aunt Marie gave me some lily bulbs.  Those things were huge!  She called them "Ruby Lilies" so the name stuck with me. She also gave some that she dubbed "Peppermint Lilies". Like the others, I still call those by her descriptive name even though, I have found that they are both Crinum Lilies.  The Ruby Lilies are the loveliest shade of ruby pink while the Peppermint Lilies are white and pink striped.  Both lilies are highly scented!  When blooming, the entire yard can be filled with delightfully sweet aroma.  This I like!  Highly scented flowers can help mask the not so delightful scent of low tide on the mudflats.

  Besides being highly scented and quite lovely, the lilies are perhaps the easiest garden flowers to grow.  Once established, the Crinum Lilies are nigh on impossible to kill so even the laziest of gardeners can have a lush bed of loveliness!  It is not uncommon to find abandoned homesteads from long ago that still have huge beds of the lilies in bloom.  Those lilies usually have bulbs that are near basketball size unlike the smaller two to three inch bulbs that are sold in stores.  Those "antique" bulbs can weigh up to twenty pounds each!  Some folks claim that the Crinum Lilies are eternal.  They never die no matter how badly you treat them.  Forget to water them, never give them fertilizer, run over them with your lawnmower, spray with herbicide...the lilies live. Mine withstood the ravages of hurricanes, were doused with the salty flood waters, lay hidden under ten feet of debris and took the mistreatment of our tractors as we cleaned the mess.  Once uncovered, the lilies burst forth with masses of leaves and then bloomed!  

 Since the lilies have so many good attributes, you would think that more gardeners would add them to the landscape.  Like all good things, there is usually a downside...a dark cloud that hovers just overhead.  With the Crinum lilies, I have only found one.  NEVER plant them where you do not want them.  Once well established, it is nigh on impossible to move them.  If you do wish to ever take out the entire clump of lilies, you better utilize a large tractor.  Otherwise, you will work yourself into a frenzy trying to dislodge the huge bulbs.  No wonder I love these things!  I better. I sure do not plan on moving them!