Lynn McGinnis

Over 20 years ago, we moved into our house and the garden was dreadful, to say the least.

It wasn’t really a garden — or even a nice yard. The St. Augustine had all but died; the azaleas were spiny and covered with lacebugs; the boxwood foliage was so thin you could see right through the poor things; and the trees, ohhh the trees… they were a hot mess.

But there were these two amazing green giants in the northwest corner of the backyard. Their lush dark shiny green leaves were gleaming in the sunlight, towering above the dirt and dead St. Augustine, and I was just amazed that they were actually alive.

But 20 years ago, I was still working, still had a kid in college, and knew very little about gardening. So the jolly green giants were left to fend for themselves other than an occasional watering from the sprinkler. As the years passed, we started tending the yard and the grass began to grow; trees were trimmed; azaleas were bug free; and the little boxwoods became bushy again. And the green giants were bigger and thicker than ever before.

After I retired, I decided I would investigate all this “gardening stuff” and study to become a Master Gardener, and hopefully help out our poor pitiful yard. Once I did, I became more curious about all the plants in my yard. I knew the names of the obvious ones — azaleas, boxwoods, privet, et cetera, but I never knew what those green giants were in the back corner. All my new gardener friends told me a good way to start is to load a plant identifier app on my phone and use it to start my plant investigations. So I did, and boy does that get the wheels turning. First on list, the green giants.

Turns out the green giants are actually White Giant Spider Lilies. Oh, they have a fancy official exotic name hymenocallis caribea ‘Tropical Giant’ but I can’t pronounce most of the official plant names, much less spell them. The genus name is derived from the Greek words ὑμήν (hymen), meaning “membrane”, and καλός (kalos), meaning “beautiful.” It refers to the curious shape of the flowers, which consist of six narrow, curved petals attached to a shallow cup that is formed from the fused stamens. The effect is of a spidery daffodil or lily, thus explaining the common name “spider lily.” Sometimes they are referred to as “Peruvian Daffodils” which sounds kinda fancy too.

So the green giants produce beautiful white flowers, who knew? I’d never seen flowers on my green giants. Guess I need to find out why. So, I did. And after a little tender love and care, one summer I looked out the window and ta-dah! This beautiful white spider-like bloom was reaching up from the long green leaves and appeared to be saying, “Hey Lynn, here I am and I’m gorgeous huh?”

White Giant Spider Lilies are my absolute favorite bulb. They bloom in the summer, require very little maintenance and are more less an evergreen. Although the foliage will die back with the first frost, but the bulbs are fine. This is a great opportunity to clean around the beds, cut back your other perennials, and plant plenty of daffodils, snowflakes, and other spring blooming bulbs that will carry your garden through the winter months. They do well in partial shade or full sun, but not in full shade, and they appreciate moist but well-drained soil. They can also be grown in containers and each plant has a spread of 6 to 12 inches.

If you don’t already have a few of these gentle giants in your garden, the best place to find them is at the Smith County Master Gardener sale this fall called “From Bulbs to Blooms.”

This year’s sale will start Oct. 7 with online shopping and finish up with pickup day Oct. 16 at Pollard United Methodist Church, 3030 New Copeland Road, Tyler. Pick up your bulbs, and do a little more shopping. We’ll have our fantastic Garden Guide/2025 Calendars, more bulbs, educational materials, door prizes and a great lecture from Steve Wiesinger, “The Bulb Hunter” and owner of Southern Bulb Company.

For more information regarding “From Bulbs to Blooms” Sale and Conference, please visit our website at www.txmg.org/smith/events.