A Flower that Blooms in Three Days-By r. t. f., 



Austin 

 Texas 



THE "FAIRY LILY|" AND "EVENING STAR," TWO SOUTHERN WILDFLOWERS THAT BLOOM THREE DAYS AFTER A 

 RAIN AND CAN BE NATURALIZED IN SOUTHERN LAWNS OR GROWN IN NORTHERN GARDENS IF THE BULBS ARE 

 STORED OVER WINTER— THE SAME BULBS SOMETIMES FLOWER TWO OR THREE TIMES IN ONE SEASON IN THE SOUTH 



THE southern rain lily, or fairy lily 

 {Cooperia pedunculata), has waxy 

 white, fragrant, night-blooming flowers about 

 two inches across, with a tube about an inch 

 and a half long. The flowers are tinged red 



The rain lily {Cooperia pedunculaia), a fragrant, white, 

 night-blooming Southern bulb which is cultivated in 

 Northern gardens and deserves to be planted by the 



thousands in Southern lawns. 



outside and are more or less greenish within. 

 The blossoms remain wide open for three 

 successive nights and days; on the fourth 

 they are nearly closed. 



The accompanying pictures show the 

 rain lily in detail and in mass. Normally 

 the flower has six perianth lobes, but if you 

 hunt steadily for half a day you may find one 

 or two flowers with seven or eight. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR NATURALIZING THEM 



The lower picture which shows rain lilies 

 growing wild by the thousand on the campus 

 of the Texas State University, suggests how 

 easily these bulbs might be naturalized on 

 southern lawns. Fancy a thousand of them 

 nodding three days after a rain! Cows will 

 clip them close to the ground but they will 

 bloom just as well. Every few years our 

 temperature reaches zero, yet the bulbs are 

 never injured. They do especially well in 

 the black soil around Austin, where, after a 

 heavy rain we can see hills for a hundred 

 miles lighted by myriads of these white little 

 stars. The Cooper ias are free from all dis- 

 eases and insect pests. The greatest num- 

 ber bloom after the first good April rain, but 

 there are plenty to delight one after every 

 good rain during the spring and first part of 

 the summer. The same bulbs will flower 

 two or three times in a season. 



The bulbs go down in hard soil four to six 

 inches and the man who digs them for the 

 florist at $10 a thousand earns his money. 

 They bear seed freely but we have lots to 

 learn yet about raising them from seed 

 successfully, and the best way to propagate 

 them is by offsets. When the young lily 

 bulbs are about a year old they are the size 

 of a pencil and about an inch long, and not 

 until the bulbs sink to the proper depth does 

 it assume its amaryllis form. 



The rain lily bulb is the size of a small 

 amaryllis — about an inch thick. It holds 



on to life with great tenacity. Lay the bulb 

 on a shelf for a whole year, and if given a 

 smell of dampness it will throw up a flower 

 shoot six inches high and greet you with 

 a six-pointed star. 



GARDEN CULTURE IN THE SOUTH 



These flowers are also suitable for general 

 cultivation in the South and when planted at 

 the edge of the grass they present a pretty 

 appearance. The best time to plant them 

 is from March to July, but they can be 

 planted any time, when the ground is not 

 frozen. Set the bulbs four inches deep and 

 three or four inches apart. In Texas their 

 main blooming season is from April ist to 

 June ist with scattering blooms as late as 

 September. 



GARDEN CULTURE IN THE NORTH 



Thousands of rain lily bulbs are shipped to 

 the Eastern states every year, and even some 

 of them to Europe. In the North the bulbs 

 should be taken up in autumn and stored 

 during the winter in dry soil. Of course, 

 they will not respond as quickly to the rain 

 in the North as in the South. A drouth 

 and then a rain or good soaking brings a 

 ''shower of stars." Plant them in May in 

 the North in a compost of peat, loam and 

 leaf mold in equal parts. They flower in 

 August. 



If kept in pots in a cool greenhouse or 

 coldframe they should be repotted in Janu- 

 ary or February. Water moderately until 



growth begins, then freely, but discon- 

 tinue watering after September and keep 

 the soil dry during the winter. They should 

 be kept at a temperature of 40 to 45 ° and 

 from 50 to 55 from February to May. 

 Propagate by offsets in February. 



THE EVENING STAR 



The evening star {Cooperia Drummondi), 

 is found in the valley of the Colorado 

 River chiefly. The tube of the flower is 

 much longer (3-5 inches) and the flat portion 

 less wide (an inch or less). It blooms later 

 in the season than the rain lily and the flower 

 does not last as long. The bulb has a shorter 

 neck than that of C. pedunculaia. Both 

 species are cultivated in the same way. 



SOME NEAR RELATIVES 



Close relatives of the rain lily and evening 

 star are the zephyr lilies (Zephyranthes), 

 which may be grown in the same way. 

 There, are four which are really good ones 

 to grow. Two of the zephyr lilies (Z. 

 Candida and Z. rosea) bloom in the autumn; 

 one, the Atamasco lily (Z. Atamasco), flowers 

 in spring and Z. carinata is a summer flow- 

 ering species. Zephyranthes rosea is a red 

 one and is the most common one in culti- 

 vation, at least, it is the one which is most 

 frequently catalogued, but Z. Candida is the 

 most beautiful of all. Its leaves do not ap- 

 pear until the fall, when the white flowers 

 also appear, and the leaves have been known 

 to last all winter, in sheltered places. 



Rain lilies which spring up by the thousand in three days after a rain on the campus of the Texas State 

 University. They can be grazed by cows without damaged 

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