6/06/2007

mystery


mystery flower, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

Photo: A close-up picture of a funnel-shaped purplish-pink flower calla lily.

This plant recently emerged in the middle of my flower bed. I'm not sure where it came from or what it's called, as I didn't plant it and I've never seen another like it in the past 5 years of gardening the same plot. I'm not complaining, though--I love garden surprises! When my kids were smaller they would always attribute such serendipitous blossoms to the work of the faeries that inhabited our garden.

Any guesses as to what it is? Perhaps it has an unusual 5+-year life cycle?
:)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like a calla lily.

http://www.blingo.com/images?q=calla%20lily

Anonymous said...

Yup. I would say calla lily too. The more common ones are white but they come in many other colors as well.

amelia said...

definitely calla lily. one of my favorites. and lilies can be planted by the birds (i could be more technical than that, but the non-tecnical explanation is much lovelier to think about). which is why we have three easter lilies in our backyard.

Anonymous said...

The mystery has been solved, but the word "mystery" goes so nicely with this particular flower anyway. The purple swirling -- very mysterious indeed!

jana said...

You people are so smart! I had guessed it was some sort of lily, but had no idea which type.

And Amelia, I am loving he thought that it was a birdfriend who left it there for me. I'm not even going to google and find out if I'm right or wrong because I don't want to believe any differently now (well, I won't completely rule out the faerie option either, I suppose). :)

Anonymous said...

I threw an amaryllis bulb into my garden three years ago, after it was done blooming indoors, and it just finally reemerged a few weeks ago, with two spikes and 8 blooms. So maybe your calla lily was just dormant all that time. But the bird hypothesis was my first guess. I have a problem with perennial morning glory in my yard which was probably a bird introduction. I'm not very happy about it.

amelia said...

the calla lilies should come up every year. my dad grew them at his office with irises, and they were up every spring neer fail. they're gorgeous. my favorite lily, i think.

and morning glory. such a mixed thing. it really is beautiful. but so damn invasive. not sure if the birds should be thanked for that particular gardening contribution.

Anonymous said...

Peter found a flowerpot (with just dirt in it) by the dumpster and brought it home, put it on our porch...and now we have four or five of the exact same color calla liles! A surprise for us too...must be those faries.