Putting on a show this month is the poorly endowed rain lily, Habranthus brachyandrus. Native to Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia, this showy bulb starts its flowering season in mid-June (NC), and continues through September. Three days after each rain a new crop of flowers emerges. The specific epithet brachyandrus lets the world know that it has unusually short male sexual parts. Of course with such a nice pink kilt on who’d ever notice what’s not underneath. These rain lilies can tolerate extreme droughts, but can also grow equally as well in moist soils in part sun. Hardiness is Zone 7b-9b, at least.
