PlantFiles: Belladonna Lily, Naked Lady
Amaryllis belladonna

The African Amaryllis (A. belladonna) is the "true" Amaryllis. It was discovered growing wild on the Cape of Good Hope by a few Dutch growers who emigrated to South Africa. This wild Amaryllis produced two and three spikes per bulb, each spike with four to six flowers. Soon it was crossed with the Dutch Amaryllis Hippeastrum, which was the beginning of a new race of Amaryllis which have many of the good characteristics of the Dutch Amaryllis, as well as those of the robust, wild African ones. four to six flowers.

Plant the bulbs 4 inches deep in well-drained soil and in a sunny growing area. The plant produces leaves in spring. The leaves die down in early summer. After about two months the flower stems and fragrant pink flowers appear. It is advisable to stake the stems to prevent wind damage. After the blooms have faded, cut the flower stalk off 1"-2" above the bulb; let the leaves remain until they turn brown – they help the bulb replenish nutrients for next year's blooms. Water and apply fertilizer occasionally.

In zones where the winters are not to harsh, you can cover the crown with peat or leaves. In other areas it is advised to mulch and leave in the ground. In very cold climates, dig the bulbs before frost and store them in damp peat moss or sand during the winter. The bulbs can be stored at about 55°F (13°C)

These are no fuss bulbs. Make sure you plant them with their necks out of the ground. They put out lush green leaves all winter in milder areas. They start to die back in late spring early summer. Then they go dormant until the flower stalks emerge in the latter part of summer. There are no leaves when they flower which is how they got their name of Naked Lady. They form nice thick clumps and like to be crowded to form lots of flowers. The pink is the most common color but you can find them in darker pink, white and combinations of white and pink. Once established they do not need anything special. I rarely water or fertilize these at all and they always put on a
great show for me.

The green strappy leaves add a wonderful and welcome sight in the spring but are unsightly when they die back. Best if hidden behind something where the dying leaves will not be so noticeable. The tall pink blooms with no foliage are wonderful by themselves or sticking up behind a low-growing hedge.

I have good memories about this plant and one big regret. My favorite aunt gave me some of these bulbs for my birthday, and I cherished them because they came from her garden in Monrovia, CA. I planted them in my garden in La Cresenta, CA., and when we moved from that home to a new home in Laguna Niguel, CA, I took them with me.

There we enjoyed them as they would pop up (it seemed) from behind a small wall bordering our swimming pool. My husband and I had great fun going thorough a ritual of “Oh look the Naked Ladies are out by the pool!”. Where upon hearing that, the other would rush to our kitchen window, and feign surprise and shock. My only regret is that when we moved from that home I didn’t take the Ladies with me.

Grows well in zone 4 also. Mine came up from under the compost bin, fairly hardy plants!

For the past two years the "Naked Ladies" have bloomed in July in Healdsburg, California with our first rain arriving in mid-November. This year they started blooming at the end of August and some haven't even bloomed yet. I wonder if the earlier they bloom, the sooner winter will arrive...

I was curious about the pods that are left after the flower, trying to dry them, etc. Finally I figured it out! Once the pod cracks open from being dried on the stem, take out the seeds and place them on a tray between layers of wet (but not swimming) paper towel. Put the tray somewhere in the house (sunny room) and forget about them for about a month except to keep them moist. I now have hundreds of these I popped into pots.

I got my plants from Caliente ,NV. They were my grandmother's. I started with 8 and now have over 20. I have given them out to my friends. They do not bloom the first year, and you only get the green in the spring. The green dies completely like other bulbs. The flowers boom around August 1st. They do grow very well in Orem, UT. Wendylee

Great hardy bulbs available in pink and white. Likes full sun. Great flowers. Low maintenance plants. pokerboy.

We love these flowers! They were planted by my husband's mother, and now we live in the house she grew up in. The bulbs are very large now. We get an abundance of these popping up all over. We've collected the 'seed pods' and now our grandchildren are planting them in even more places for more wonderful surprises in the coming years. Easiest flower of all in our gardens...they virtually take care of themselves and surprise us every summers end. :) (We live in the Central Valley in California)

I have had these for about 2 years. I have foliage but no blooms. I just recently learned they don't like wet summers. Where I had them growing I regularly watered there. I am moving these to a drier area in the Fall.

Like berrygirl, I have had my plants for 2 years and they have never bloomed. The bulbs are large and the foliage is very healthy looking. I am so disappointed at the end of each summer because I anxiously anticipate seeing the blooms which do not appear. They are in a container. Maybe this year I will be lucky.

We're in the Sierra foothills, 1500 ft. elevation. Summer highs reach 105, winter lows usually low 20's. These things grow and multiply very well here. They will pop up in late summer in the driest clay soil and bloom. I dig them up every few years, divide them and replant. Next year they all seem to come up. I started with a few, now have hundreds. Very easy and dependable. Don't seem to need any attention.

Like others, these lovely scented flowers have been a part of my life (I am not 55) since My Grandmother had them... the bulbs I have now are derivative from hers. Hers are still growing at the family home in Oxnard CA so add 93033 to the zip code.

Back to the question of predicting early winter.. I have always heard that as a gardening tale.. I think it may be true. Our usually bloom here in August. They are currently blooming now... so What does that mean??? ;-)

I concur they are pretty idiot proof. (I have no green thumb and still they flourish.) Thanks for all the other information!

I have success growing the "Naked Lady" in containers in our area (outside San Diego, CA) although summer temps have been in the 90-100's (even up to 106 this year.) Other than using some organic blub food when I planted them, I have done nothing special nor given them any extra watering. Since the temp can drop to the 30's in the winter and the blubs are in containers, I do move them into a shed in the winter.

I have also had success growing them in the ground in Northern California, where once again, summer temps were in excess of 100 degrees and no special attention was paid to them. In fact, the ones we have here came from my father's yard in Lincoln, CA, where they grow behind the garage, under a cedar tree, with no encouragment.

It has been my experience that they are fairly drought tolerant, require little work, and their pale pink blooms are a very pretty sight.

I received some bulbs from a neighbor about 2 years ago and this summer I have had wonderful pink/blue highlighted blooms for the first time. They are growing in partial shade and require no care which is also a great bonus. I have been cutting some of my blooms for indoor enjoyment and they are now bulging with seed pods where the flower was, and I was wondering if anyone could give me some planting advice on how to get these going properly. I still have the stalks in water which seems to be working for them and I should have plenty to share if I can get them mature and viable. Thanks!!

Our naked ladies just turned up in our garden voluntarily. As time has gone on, more and more have joined the clan and we have even relocated them several times. We love the fact that the foliage comes...the foliage goes...everything appears to be barren -- when...VOILA! here come the ladies in all their nakedness and haunting perfumery. They are truly ladies who show up on the sly and then show off like the exhibitionists they are. We love that they came uninvited -- we have invited them to stay on permanently!

I want to report that Amaryllis belladonna grows in Chicago, IL in zone 5, in a weedy, neglected south-exposure sight. The soil is sandy. It has returned for many years and formed 2 clumps of 8-10 bulbs. One clump is up against a maple tree and another is about one foot from the south wall of a building. Bulbs are about 1.5 inches wide and slender with long necks.

When we bought our house 2 years ago, we had these crazy plants and flowers coming up in our side yard. I had no idea what they were and forgot about them. I don't know if the previous owners planted them there or how they got where they did.

That summer we had bought the house, they came up and I thought they were pretty. The next summer, they came up again but my husband kept mowing over them. I had no where to move them since we hadn't done any landscaping. Also last summer, we tilled up our entire yard to re-seed it. The builder hadn't seeded the yard, so a lot of weeds grew and not much grass. I thought that since the plants had been mowed over and tilled up, they wouldn't survive. But to my surprise, this spring the green leaves came up and were still growing in the same spot as they had the last 2 years. I honsetly hadn't expected to see them after what we've put them through.

Luckily, about a month ago, we built a retaining wall around the front and side of our house to get ready for flowers. And once that was done, I knew I wanted to dig up the bulbs and move them to the flower bed. Only thing was, I had no idea there would be so many.

After a lot of digging and 122 bulbs later!!! They're now transplanted into our retaining wall flower boxes and I'm hoping they do all right. They seem to be pretty hardy since they've been mowed down and tilled. This will be the first summer they grow in the flower box and I'm hoping they survive the transplant! At least this year, they won't get mowed. :)

I didn't know what kind of flower they were til our neighbor lady told me. Then I looked them up on the internet and the pictures reminded me of how much I liked them when the naked stalks come up with those pretty flowers in the summer.

We live in southern Iowa (zone 5) and our naked ladies seem to do pretty well around these parts!