The Mysterious Nerines

Gentle Reader ~~~ I have been absent for some days.  Nearly a fortnight ago we had a rare and intense electrical storm pass over our area and a lightning bolt apparently hit something in our local telephone exchange and somehow fried all the BT HomeHubs across the village.  Oddly, other service providers were not affected!  

For nine days I spent hours on hold, and eventually my connection was restored. Had they listened to me I would have been back after only two days, but as it was they didn't listen and so I remained off line for all that time.  I learned how much I have come to rely on the internet, and that is a tale for another day ~~~

Apparently, it was quite a stormy night and while my friends and neighbours tossed and turned, some pulling the bedclothes over their heads in fright, I slept throughout the night as lightning thrashed and thunder clashed across the night sky ~~~

Here is a tale of mystery and intrigue, which is partly resolved and partly not ~~~

A long time ago, the gentleman who lived in the old farmhouse across the way told my mother that she could help herself to bulbs of the beautiful, multi~headed and intoxicatingly fragrant narcissus that flowered in his borders ~~~ time passed and my mother didn't like to go into the garden, despite being given permission, and eventually the old man died and the house was sold on.  The narcissus remained and bloomed every year in the Spring and each year my mother regretted not going to dig up some bulbs while she had the opportunity.

Many years passed, and a succession of owners came and went ~~~ then, four years ago the offer was made again by the then owners. Not being that shy, and with permission, I went along with my spade and carefully dug up a dozen or so of the precious bulbs and brought them home.  I didn't have a spot prepared, so I put them in a large terracotta pot and promptly forgot all about them!

The following spring, the pot was full of the healthiest, strongest leaves but not a single bloom was seen.  Time passed, and the same thing happened the following year, and again the year after that! What was happening?  I could not understand it, and thought that maybe they took time to settle in after being dug up, or maybe they didn't like being in a pot.  So, I made plans to get them out of the pot and in the ground this very Autumn.  

Now, as you know, my back is suffering quite a bit at present, so this task slipped from my mind ~ then, a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that there were some green spikes emerging from the pot, and there were the start of tiny flower buds in clusters on the top of these spikes.  What could this be?  Surely they had not decided to produce flowers at the end of the year and without leaves?

I waited, with curiosity ever growing as the flower buds grew bigger and bigger and began showing slight tinges of pink! Certainly not what I was expecting to see and so the mystery deepened ~~~ what were these strange flower spikes?

Then, one day, the mystery was partly solved ~~~ the buds burst and showed their secret ~~~ beautiful, bright, pink Nerine bowdenii!!! Imagine my total surprise!  Here is the first one to open and reveal the secret ~~~

More followed to open, and more again each passing day ~~~ so now there are a total of four ~ each with a cluster of the elegant frilly trumpets ~~~

Aren't they just so beautiful?  I have always loved Nerines and wanted them in my garden for some time but have always managed to spend the gardening budget on other things ~~~ but now I have them, and for free!  Those are the best kind of plants ~~~

They are opening more delicate trumpets each day, and soon will be transplanted to the ground where I hope they will multiply {for they are good spreading plants} to give a striking display of colour to the Autumn borders year after year ~~~ now that I know they are Nerines, the flowering spikes are correctly called 'scapes' and the leaves will follow and I will closely observe them, for I am certain that these are bonus bulbs accidentally gathered at the same time as the failed Narcissus, yet there are no Nerines in that garden in that particular spot.  Only time will tell now! Curiouser and curiouser ~~~

So, the mystery, however, is only partly solved ~~~ how did I managed to dig up and bring home the dozen bulbs of narcissus that have not yet flowered, and now four years later Nerines are growing in the very pot where the narcissus give leaf but no bloom in the Spring?  Watch this space ~~~ remembering that ~~~

~~~ A Gardener's Work Is Never Done ~~~