Rain Lilies

Rain lilies are one of my favorite summer flowering bulbs. Their common name comes from the fact that they have a tendency to bloom profusely right after a summer shower. Here in Oklahoma any summer shower is a welcome site, but this summer has been particularly dry. God blessed us with about three inches over a two-day period last week. Over the next few days the various Rain lilies in our flower beds were just a bustin’. The Rain liliy pictured here is Zephyranthes grandiflora, a standard pass-along plant in the south that has been shared over back-yard fences for ever. It is the first species of rain lily we started with more than a dozen years ago. The grandiflora, signifying this species of Rain lily as having a rather large bloom, in fact the largest bloom in the genus. The genus Zephyranthes gets its name from the fact that the delicate, paper-thin flowers dance in the lightest breeze, or zephyr. You can view the other species of Zephyranthes we grow over at Flickr.

Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound [and see what it does], but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:7-8 (ESV)