I cut down a big overgrown bush and up popped about 30 pink long stemmed lillies.?

Question

Did my mother plant these or are they volunteer?
I was surprised after I spent a whole afternoon and evening cutting an unruley bush out next to my drive. I hacked and cut and filled an entire truck bed with limbs and when I pulled up in the drive 4 days later these pretty long stemmed lillies popped up where the bush was cut out.
My mother died about 14 yrs ago and I keep wondering if all these little surprises came from her or it they are just something that pops up volunteer. My boyfriend tells me these are called surprise lillies. Where do they come from?

Answer 1

They were planted by your mother. What's sweet is the name is Lycoris squamigera, Surprise Lily, Magic Lily, Resurrection Lily, Naked Lady. In this case, I'd call them Resurrection Lilies, since indeed your mother is giving you a gift from the world beyond, and living again in memory. What a beautiful thing to have happen!

http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/20380/

Answer 2

Your Boyfriend is right, they are Surprise Lillie's. They are called that because they pop up over night.
Their appearance had nothing to do with the cutting of the bush. They will come up through anything.

Answer 3

Amaryllis belladonna aka Painted Lady, Belladonna Lily can lie dormant for several years until conditions are right. A. hallii similar but more cold hardy. Nifty plants. RScott

Answer 4

that must have been nice to see:). I have no idea how they got there, are they wild to your area, or naturalized? I have a lot of nice looking flowers naturalized in my area that i planted, or just come up randomly. But it was probably just some lillies that never came up, because of the bush. Your mom probably planted them, or some one else did. but who knows.

Answer 5

Many lily class plants grow from bulbs. So there was once a bed of lilies at that spot. Removal of the bushes and whatever apparently allowed them to develop again. They will do that every season now after they go dormant again.

Answer 6

Very unlikely to have popped up by accident, sounds like your Mum planted them and all they needed was a bit of sun. They were probably growing all stringy and pathetic within the bush before, out of sight.

Answer 7

This site should tell you all about the plants:

http://www.floridata.com/ref/L/lyco_squ.cfm

If your mother planted these bulbs, then it's kind of special that she is living on through those flowers.

Answer 8

You have a rare talent called green thumb. Enjoy

Answer 9

they were dormant until the sunshine popped up