Nerine Timey

Nerine sarniensis as cut flowers indoors. (The mural in our kitchen was painted by my dad in 1948, it features all of my brothers and sisters, as well as neighbors and relatives in an old English setting. I wasn’t born yet …yeah… obviously an oops baby born 11 years after my sister, who is a baby in the mural; Still, rather weird, but attractive too with it’s color palette and cracks, especially when lit well – a little Starbucksy.

Each year, I hesitate with cutting the Nerine sarniensis since although they are the perfect sign of autumn, and so difficult to grow for most people, if not impossible to bloom, my Kismet of luck keeps me a little more protective with them. Besides, I usually cross them with each other, and don’t want to lose out on any seed. This year, since I had an abundance of bloom, I decided to cut a few to take to work, decorate the kitchen and bring into my studio. Here in New England, it was a perfect fall weekend, and nothing says “fall’ like pink and magenta, I always say!

In the autumn greenhouse, the stars are certianly the Nerine sarniesis – the Amaryllis’ long lost cousin, rarely seen in America, and unusual even in it’s more common habitat – the UK, where the call it the Guernsey Lily, based off of an old legend that a ship at sea dumped its cargo of Nerine in the 1800’s off of the coast of Guernsey, where they bulbs that washed up on shore, naturalized. Native to South Africa……wait……..? Has anyone ever wondered WHY a ship would be full of Nerine? Perhaps there is a greater mystery here.

Nerine sarniensis hybrids growing in the greenhouse. ( I know, the ugly old gas can is still in the picture).