Since I had heard of rain lilies, I was surprised that I never heard of Zephyranthes atamasca, botanical name, and Atamasco lily, common name. Looked it up and here are a few facts. It was North Carolina’s Wildflower of the year in 2010. It is native to the southern United States and prefers to grow in acidic damp humus rich soil. It is highly poisonous to human. The name zephros is Greek for west wind and anthos means flower. Atmasco is the Native American name. It is a conspicuous white lily though in time it may appear tinged or veined with pink as the bloom ages. Each 10-to-12-inch stem produces one flower. The lily is fragrant. It is very attractive to songbirds and pollinators.
It grows where there is some sun but mostly shade to part shade. The plant is heat tolerant but it is not hardy where the ground freezes deeply. Since we are mostly in USDA plant hardiness zone of 7 A or 7 B, we are about as far north as this lily will grow. The plant goes dormant in the summer, so one may have to mark the location of the lilies in a garden.
The plant can be prorogated from offsets of the bulb or from seed. On the internet, I could not find a place to purchase bulbs. The North Carolina Botanical Garden shop says that it sells the seeds but they are not listed in their current inventory.
Please identify the two flowers. Thank you.
Since I had heard of rain lilies, I was surprised that I never heard of Zephyranthes atamasca, botanical name, and Atamasco lily, common name. Looked it up and here are a few facts. It was North Carolina’s Wildflower of the year in 2010. It is native to the southern United States and prefers to grow in acidic damp humus rich soil. It is highly poisonous to human. The name zephros is Greek for west wind and anthos means flower. Atmasco is the Native American name. It is a conspicuous white lily though in time it may appear tinged or veined with pink as the bloom ages. Each 10-to-12-inch stem produces one flower. The lily is fragrant. It is very attractive to songbirds and pollinators.
It grows where there is some sun but mostly shade to part shade. The plant is heat tolerant but it is not hardy where the ground freezes deeply. Since we are mostly in USDA plant hardiness zone of 7 A or 7 B, we are about as far north as this lily will grow. The plant goes dormant in the summer, so one may have to mark the location of the lilies in a garden.
The plant can be prorogated from offsets of the bulb or from seed. On the internet, I could not find a place to purchase bulbs. The North Carolina Botanical Garden shop says that it sells the seeds but they are not listed in their current inventory.