Almost tropical looking, they’re great planted among daylilies or hostas, so the flower stalk rises up among the foliage. We see thriving patches in Zone 5 of this most cold-hardy lycoris. Joanna’s patch in Zone 3 puts out leaves annually and blooms only every 2–3 years.
18–24" tall. Late Summer blooms, Z5-9. 10-12cm bulbs.
The Royal General Bulbgrowers Association in Holland (Koninklijke Algemeene Vereeniging voor Bloembollencultuur, or KAVB) puts this large group of diverse flowers into a boring catch-all category: Miscellaneous Bulbs. The expensive catalogs call them specialty or accent bulbs; some call them minor or dwarf bulbs (even though some of the fritillaries are huge!); Louise Beebe Wilder covered most of them in her 1936 classic Adventures with Hardy Bulbs. Whatever you call them, most are uncommonly sweet, delicate, colorful, and completely welcome in spring.