Lycoris takes time to become established and bloom
Q: My lycoris won’t bloom in the ground or in a container. The bulb necks are exposed, and I kept the ones in a terra-cotta pot dry during the summer. New growth appeared but without blooms, although I fertilized occasionally, especially with bone meal. What am I doing wrong?
Dave Klein, Houston
A: These bulbs often don’t flower the first year and sometimes not the second after they’ve been planted, so give them time to establish. They’ll multiply best when undisturbed, and they can take some water during the dormant season.
Lycoris is a genus of naturalizing bulbs commonly called spider lily because of their form, naked lady because the blooms appear before the foliage and hurricane lily because they flower at the height of storm season.
The delicate-looking but indestructible flowers are Asian amaryllids with 4- to 6-inch umbels of narrow petals and long stamens perched on 18inch stems. The strappy foliage emerges after the exotic blooms pop up in September, lingers into spring and dies down in the summer heat.
The red L. radiata is the most common species, a tough heirloom found in abandoned landscapes and our urban gardens as well. However, the white L. x albiflora, peppermint L. x incarnata and yellow L. aurea also adapt.
Plant lycoris closely, with their necks just above the soil line in sun or part sun among ground covers, in mixed borders and in pots. Plant late spring to fall, but typically, gardeners plant in fall, when bulbs are most readily available. Divide and transplant mature bulbs April to May.
Q: When is the best time to prune my 20-foot-tall red-tip photinias?
Jim King, Houston
A: I would wait to do heavy pruning until late winter-early spring, after the danger of a freeze.
Q: We rented an Italian villa this summer, and I loved the way the sunlight filtered through the vines on an arbor to create a very pleasant outdoor space. We have a lakefront property in Houston, and I’m considering putting a vine-covered seating area that mimics the Italian design. It receives full afternoon sun. Could you recommend an evergreen vine for the structure?
A: That’s bougainvillea on the Italian villa arbor in the photo in your email. That vine can lose its foliage in a cold winter here but is typically root hardy.
You might consider a climbing rose such as ‘Peggy Martin,’ with heavy spring pink bloom clusters and a smattering of summer flowers. Repeat-flowering roses include Climbing ‘Cecile Brunner,’ a fragrant pink old rose; ‘Climbing Pinkie,’ which is nearly thornless with continuous semidouble rose-pink blooms; and the vigorous ‘Dortmund,’ with large, single red blooms with white eyes.
Vigorous evergreen wisteria (Millettia reticulata) has glossy, dark-green foliage divided into leaflets and beautiful dark reddish-purple blooms in summer.
Carolina yellow jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) is an evergreen early-spring bloomer that attracts hummingbirds and spicebush swallowtail butterflies.
Star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) is an evergreen with fragrant white spring blooms. The lush, dark-green foliage is attractive all year.
Passionflower vines not only produce exotic flowers in shades of blue, violet, red or yellow, they also attract butterflies. Since they are host plants for the gulf fritillary, the foliage will be consumed from time to time by the butterflies’ hungry caterpillars, but the leaves will grow back.
‘Tangerine Beauty’ is a form of our native crossvine. Vigorous and evergreen, it matures to about 30 feet and produces tubular tangerine-ruby blooms that attract hummingbirds in spring and summer.
Dutchman’s pipe (Aristolochia gigantic) produces curious 8- to 10-inch burgundy mottled blooms spring to frost. It can grow 30 feet long with dense, heart-shaped leaves and is evergreen in mild winters.
The flowers of the Rangoon creeper (Quisqualis indica) age from whitish-pink to red for a summer show. The potentially 30-foot vine is evergreen in mild winters.
Skyflower (Thunbergia grandiflora) vine is covered in orchidlike lavender-blue blooms late summer to frost or well into spring following a mild winter. Although vulnerable to top damage during a hard freeze, this vigorous vine does provide months of cover. Mulch to protect the roots.