The prevailing opinion is that this high stress climate combined with a relatively new location, so this specimen produced another bloomless summer. I begged my husband to pull the car over and let me dig some up, but no dice. What a spoil sport. I was delighted to see crinums mentioned in the foreword of the 1999 Plant Delights fall catalog, and noted there as enjoying a revival of sorts. For those of us who live below Zone 6, this is good news indeed.
Crinum lilies are members of the amaryllis family, having six petals in their blooms.
They range in color from white to near purple, with petal shapes and striations varying with specie. My Grandmothers' favorite was one we called 'cream and wine' which had ecru petals with a maroon stripe down the center of each petal. My clump of long-leaved green has yet to show any interest in anything like this. One of the other lovely features about these lilies lies in the shapes of the petals they may have. Some are as thin as shredded documents, lending an exotic touch to the garden.