Zephyranthes - Cultivation

Cultivation

Currently these plants are commonly cultivated in USDA hardiness zones 7–10. Rain lily breeders may develop cultivars with greater cold hardness.

Generally rain lilies are sold in nurseries already potted up. This is of benefit since the growth cycle is not interrupted. Rarely (and not ideally), dried bulbs are marketed. Such dried bulbs usually become established after one to two growing seasons and will regain bloom vigor.

Although many of the common names include "lily", these plants are actually in the Amaryllis family. They are much less fussy than the amaryllis however. Zephyranthes are bulbs, but you don't have to fuss over them like tulips. You usually buy them in one gallon pots with ample soil around them. They come out of the pot in a big clump of 30 or so bulbs and you can simply plant the entire clump intact or separate them and spread them out a little.

Zephyranthes are available year round in most nurseries in USDA Zones 7–10. While the pink species is best known, coral, white, and yellow species are gaining popularity. If you plant Zephyranthes when it is cool, give them some water as they get established, then you never need to mess with them again. Just enjoy them. No watering, no pruning, no muss, no fuss.

While Zephyranthes can stand dry periods, if you want the graceful green leaves to remain showing all year, you may need to add some water in drier periods or more arid climates. This can be a good thing if you let them dry a week or so between watering. The cycle of drying then watering encourages them to send forth bewitching flowers.

All Zephyranthes do best with a little shade in the US Southwest. If you plant them around the base of trees or shrubs, everyone wins. You get a ground cover that shades the ground so your trees lose less water to evaporation, and zephyranthes get some shade. The cover of zephyranthes hides fallen leaves, which turn into nutrient rich compost for continued plant health, and you have less raking.

Elizabeth Lawrence in her classic A Southern Garden (1942) writes with enthusiasm about pink rain lily, Zephyranthes grandiflora (=Zephyranthes carinata):

It is one of the hardiest species and is said to winter safely in Philadelphia. As a child I thought of the little rose-colored lilies as the sign and seal of summer. My grandmother in Georgia grew them in her garden, and my grandmother in West Virginia grew them in little pots on the front porch. Those in my garden came from Georgia. They have been with me so long and have increased so much that their bloom makes a sea of pink. The season is in June but there is scattered bloom in the late summer and even to the end of September. The flowers are large, to over three inches long, on ten-inch stems. They open out flat at midday and close in the afternoon; this is a characteristic of the genus. The shimmering leaves are grass green.