I was ‘gifted’!

Alice gifted me this wonderful Crinum Lily she dug from her friend’s garden.

Today, my neighbor Alice gifted me with a huge Crinum Lily, dug from her friend’s gardens earlier in the day. This is the first time a neighbor has gifted me with a plant, so I was very excited, especially because the gifted plant is a Crinum Lily.

I had been out in the back gardens digging poison oak seedlings that have appeared here and there in my beds, so I was wearing purple latex gloves and carrying a plastic grocery bag of diggings when Carl called me to the gate and there was Alice, with this gift. As soon as she left, I began digging a hole for the lily, in the perfect spot to be able to water it heavily this summer while it becomes established. Below the mulch and only a few inches of topsoil, I encountered pure, dry silt clay. Lovely, ivory-colored, nutritious silt, but hard to get a shovel into. I used the water hose to fill the hole with water and wait for it to soak and soften the silt so I could keep digging.

About that time, believe it or not, we finally got some rain. The rain fell for about 20 minutes, while the bulbs sat in the partially dug hole, soaking up some water in preparation for planting. When the rain stopped falling, there was enough semi-dry excavated material to backfill the lower part of the planting hole and keep the bulbs standing upright. I will finish this planting with a good backfill mix of soil enhancer and manure. Wait – do Crinums like manure?

Usually, I am the gardener who is gifting plants to my neighbors. Receiving such a beautiful gift, from Alice, really made this day special.

Thank you again, Alice!

Also, here is a wonderful article in Southern Living you’ll enjoy reading on the Crinum Lily.