Cobb County Cooperative Extension
Plant of the Month
Lycoris radiata
Common name: Red Spider Lily
Spring flowering bulbs, such as tulips and daffodils, are planted in the fall. Then summer flowering bulbs, such as elephant ears and caladiums, are planted in the spring. Spring and summer flowering bulbs both add beauty and enjoyment to Georgia landscapes.
However, there are some less common little used bulbs which flower in the fall which if used could also add beauty and enjoyment to your landscape.
One in particular, Lycoris radiata, the Red Spider Lily, is a fall flowering bulb. It’s planted in the fall and often it will bloom the same year. It’s characterized by tall leafless stalks which appear suddenly, bearing 4 – 12 bright red flowers with curled, strip like thin petals at the tips. The stamen or pollen bearing structures, of the flowers grow longer than the petals giving L. radiata its spider like appearance hence its common name spider lily. After the blooms and stalks die, L. radiata goes dormant and disappears until spring when only its leaves will appear and then they die back in the summer.
L. radiata naturalizes well. Its good planted among other low growing groundcovers or flowers which can hide its plain foliage in the spring and bare flower stalks in fall. A related species Lycoris squamigera, common name Surprise or Magic Lily blooms a little earlier then Red Spider Lily, with pink, lilac or rose colored lily like blooms.
Origin: China and Japan
Growth habit: perennial in zones 7 – 10.
Planting time: late summer early fall
Spacing: 12” apart
Location: full sun
Care: low maintenance, few pest problems, drought tolerant, water when in bloom.
Bloom time: late summer in September lasting only 2-3 weeks
Height: 2’- 3’
Propagation: division, after foliage dies
References:
“Bulbs and Perennials: division and transplanting”; compiled by Swinford, Rachel L.B., Cobb County Extension Office, November 2001.
“Consumer Horticulture Fact Sheet: perennial bulbs Lycoris radiata, L. squamigera”; NC State University.
“Flowering Bulbs for Georgia Gardens”; Bulletin 918, the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service, Reprinted October 1995.
Please also read Red Spider Lily by a former Cobb County program assistant, Susan Timmers
Garden Bulbs for the South; Ogden, Scott; Taylor Publishing Company 1994.
Other bulb publications
Written by: Cornelius A. Tarver
Horticulture Program Assistant
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