In September of last year I drove by this deserted house, and I was amazed to see the entire front yard ablaze in red flowers. They were Ox Blood Lilies, affectionately called School House Lilies because of where they are often found growing. These lilies are traditional, old Southern passalong plants. Hundreds - maybe even thousands of lilies were blooming around this ramshackle house. It was an unforgettable sight, so much so that I didn't forget it! I HAD to have some. So this weekend my husband and I drove over there with a bucket and a shovel - nerve racking! Stealing (I mean RESCUING) some of these old time favorites is a little scary. He stayed in the car (for a fast getaway), and I hopped out and dug into several clumps very near the road (technically not even in the yard - government property, right?) Ox Blood Lilies are notoriously deep dwellers. They have a very interesting ability to literally claw their way deep into the earth when the ground is dry. And, with no regular water for decades, these bulbs were more than two feet deep under the ground. Because of that, I wasn't able to dig out the really mature bulbs (in my haste), so the bulbs I managed to pull up were small. But they get bigger each year, and they multiply. This is a real find! Ox Blood Lilies are expensive - about $3 apiece. To have a really good display, you need a lot of them. Hmm. There might be another rescue in my future.
My treasures.
You can see how deep even these small bulbs were buried in the ground, some of them a foot deep as evidenced by the long brown shoots.
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