WashingtonGardener: Lycoris Plant Profile

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Lycoris Plant Profile

Lycoris (Lycoris sp.) is also known as Naked Lady, Surprise Lily, Magic Lily, Resurrection Lily, British Soldiers, and many other common names. Truth is, they are not lilies at all and are in the Amaryllis family. They are native to eastern and southern Asia.

Lycoris are gorgeous and a great cut flower, lasting well over a week in a vase. They give off a lovely fragrance to boot! The most common are the pink (Lycoris squamigera) and the red (Lycoris radiata). There are also yellow, white, and mixed color versions.

Lycoris grow from a large bulb and can take a few years to recover and bloom after you plant them, so be patient and leave them be to settle in and get flowering. They are an old-fashioned favorite and you will often see them coming up around abandoned home sites. If you are not lucky enough to inherit some as pass-along gifts, you can order them from companies like Brent & Becky’s Bulbs.

They are hardy to zones 5-9 and prefer a sunny to part-sun location. Lycoris naturalizes by bulb-offsets. They prefer medium moisture in well-drained soils and to be covered with a bit of mulch in winter.

In the spring, you will see the strappy foliage come up and then quickly die back and disappear. In mid-summer, after a good soaking rain, the tall stalks will suddenly shoot up and the flowers will appear without any foliage, hence their colorful nicknames. These are the ultimate "set-it and forget-it" plant.