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Community Corner

Naked Ladies! Coming Soon To a Vacant Lot Near You

Of course, Amaryllis belladonna, aka Naked Ladies and Belladonna Lilies, also grow in some pretty upscale Altadena gardens. The secret lies in benign neglect. They hate fuss.  A native of South Africa, Belladonna Lilies thrive in a Mediterranean climate such as ours, with some winter rains and a long hot summer. If you try to pamper them with extra water and mulch, at best they'll sulk and at worst, they'll die.

The plants would also rather not be moved here and there around your garden; they like to stay in one place. Just leave them alone and you should all get along fine.

And why the nickname Naked Ladies?  Because the flower stalk has no leaves; just a cluster of pastel pink petals. Start the plant from a bulb, and you should get the first bloom in about two years. Or you can plant from seed, but blooming will take about three times as long.

The worst you can say about Belladona Lilies is that the display lasts such a short period of time, maybe a month or so, August into September.

But put it all together and you have the perfect house guest. They don't move in on you for months at a time, they never leave a mess, they don't want you to take them anywhere, they don't want to eat anything; all they want to do is a little yard work, and then they'll be gone before you know it.

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