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What a refreshing change the first cool weather of fall has made!
After such a brutal summer the cooler temperatures have been much celebrated. The farm was even blessed with a much needed four-inch rain and in some cases it was actually life saving for some of our trees.
It is always amazing to me that the plants that rebound the fastest to extreme weather patterns are our natives. In just a few days after the rain many native grasses and wildflowers began to bloom. Plants that looked dead just days before were sending up seed heads valiantly trying to reproduce before the first frost of the year. Several Red Buds in town even bloomed.
However the most spectacular were the Rain Lilies. They were everywhere hidden in every nook and cranny and in certain areas like east of Austin they covered acres. A literal carpet of showy white blooms blanketed one hillside.
Cooperia pedunculata, or more commonly known as Rain Lily, will pop up and bloom a couple of days after a good rain. It looks like a 6 petaled white flower but technically it has 3 petals and 3 sepals that look almost identical. The white trumpet shaped flower is on an unbranched stem around 8 inches high. The blooms start out as a tight trumpet in the evening opening slowly to beautiful fragrant blossom sometimes measuring 2 inches across by morning. The flowers last only a few days.
Even though the Rain Lily is a bulb it will set seed and reproduce by seed. So be patient and wait to mow until after the seed has dispersed. The seeds are black and are as shiny as a new pair of black patent shoes.
Rain Lily will grow practically anywhere. Throw the seeds out and in a couple of years you too can experience the magic of the Rain Lily.
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**ARCHIVED POST AUTHOR: znobia
