Monday, September 29, 2008

Mystery plant from Mathilde

I've popped back over because this appeared suddenly in a little patch under the trellis. Mathilde gave me 3 or 4 bulbs last year, saying they were "Fleur de Lys". They are a vivid scarlet, really beautiful, but I can find nothing in any directory under Mathilde's name for them.




However, it does look like

"Daylily" or " Day Lilies"
Latin name:
Hemerocallis 'Autumn
Red'

The colour is different but the leaves are the same. It's a stunning little plant and I'm off shortly to find out more about it.

But not before I tell you about a comical week having a tube well drilled. Diego, the water diviner and driller, came and pointed out the spot and said about 25 metres down....sure enough it was. Then the plumber with a long submersible pump with cables and tubes; a bricklayer next to make good all around the well with a nice square chamber and a little caseta to house the control unit and keep it weather prooof. We await the electrician to couple all this up but we've had wind and rain and no-one works in those conditions. All this conducted in the incomprehensible local Spanish, translated by neighbour Gonzalo in his slower, clearer Spanish while he wanted to do hands on work in all the trades. It has been an exhausting and stressful week as we rushed around buying materials.....I'm sure we understood only half of what we've been told. We only hope the whole thing works, even though with the amount of rain we've had lately we're unlikely to need it until next summer.

4 comments:

Jan said...

The well-drilling sounds very interesting and I hope it proves itself next summer. There may well be a watercourse under our field as the farmer next door has a well in his, but I don't think we'll go down the drilling route. We're waiting for the agri-water!

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Hi, and good morning, I think this is a Jacobean lily or also called Aztec lily. I hope this helps. T.

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

Having your own well sounds great. I think you will both be very happy that you've got one when the next drought hits. Love that mystery plant from Mathilde, the flowers are very pretty but I don't think it's a Daylily.

BTW something strange is going on at Bliss. ;-)

LadyLuz said...

Hi Jan and Steve. I'm following what you're doing with great interest. We have friends in the hills who live only with rain water through a complicated series of depositos, valves, filters and recyclers and they are very pleased with the results.

Titania. You have come up trumps again. Yes, Sprekelia (Aztec Lily) is IT. There is a lot of info on line, including the Sprekelia williamsii - a gorgeous copper coloured lily. The fleur-de-lys pattern is very noticeable with the top-post three petals.

I am enjoying your Spring time with you - so exciting to see what pops up next in your garden. I thought at first your strange fruit was a chirimoya but, no....they have a patterned rough outer skin and the fruit is delicious when you can get at it through all the black pips.