Last week I had the good fortune of enjoying my book while taking in the slight, pleasant fragrance of the Crinum 'Mrs. James Hendry.' There is always much debate about Crinums (some people hate them and others love them), but nobody can deny the clean foliage, beautiful light pink flowers, and fantastic fragrance of 'Mrs. James Hendry.' Furthermore, the bulb continues to produce several scapes throughout the summer, giving a repeat bloom when most plants just give up!



But one doesn't have to look up 4 feet to find a pink flower blooming. All along the borders of this grand garden bed were the wonderful blooms (third of the summer) from the pink rain lily, Habranthus robustus. When thinking rain lily, don't think small blooms.
These large pink trumpet shaped blooms make up for the not so spectacular foliage that just lays across the ground. Look for the blooms a few days after a rain, and then look for the seed pods once the blooms have finished. This rain lily is a must and we look forward to carrying it someday soon.

While in the neighborhood, I had the good fortune of visiting with Mr. and Mrs. Still. I don't think you could meet any better Aggies (Texas A&M) and I also don't think you could meet many better gardeners. There Vitex tree was finishing up, but their Esperanza was in full bloom and looked spectacular. Mr. Still shared a wonderful story of his "blind date" with Hurricane Audrey on June 27, 1957. At the bottom, I included the opening excerpt from the January 1959 issue of Texas A&M Engineer--thrilling story.



“All my life I have avoided blind dates; however, my blind date with Audrey on June 27, 1957 was different because I asked for it and didn’t have sense enough to be afraid until it was all over. Some blind dates end eventually in marriage. It was pure luck that my date with Audrey didn’t end in death….” YOU MUST READ MORE!!!