Zephyranthes atamasco

[Teresa]

wild,from beside a south georgia highway . . . .

[CT]

That's a pretty little thing. Does it bloom just once a year?

[Kittyzee]

Beautiful!  Did you dig it up and bring it home?   

[Teresa]

Don't know if it blooms more than once a year . . . I do know that you see them by the highway pretty much all year round.  There are more in the spring and the fall, but they are there even in January and July.

Yes, I did stop and dig some up from just in front of a construction site.  I figured they wouldn't last long there anyway.  I cannot find a source for purchase.

[Kittyzee]

It looks so tiny and fragile, but it must be a hardy, tough little thing to be able to grow in the most unlikely of places.  It will think it's paradise at your home Teresa!  That reminds me once when I was walking through the cow pasture, and right in the middle of a cow pattie was a small little flower growing up through it...and I thought isn't that just like life?

[Johns]

These little sweethearts bloom on and off all summer, usually right after a rain, so some call them "rain lilies".  Often, after they have been blooming a couple of days, the petals turn pink.  I got mine from the wild many years ago.  Some call them fairy liles also. 

Here are two sources: 


http://www.mailordernatives.com/servlet/StoreFront

http://www.nichegardens.com/catalog/item.php?id=2137

See also http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/bulbs-summer/zephranthes.html for more info.

[Teresa]

I have searched many times and haven't found a place that has them . . . . one of those two links has them on the site, but not in stock and I've found that once or twice.  But I like them and unlike other 'rain lilies', the blooms on these last for days and days, which I really like.