Prelude
This story goes back to October 2018 when we had visited Sikkim. After an adventurous and mesmerizing trip to North Sikkim (Lachen, Gurudongmar lake, Lachung, Yumthang, Zero point), we came back to Gangtok and stayed there for a couple of days to unwind all the adrenaline rush. During that time, we mainly visited the local eateries, gift shops, and one of the most sought after place, the ‘Flower exhibition center’ close to MG Market, Gangtok where we say beautiful Lily flowers including the March Lily.
It was a quaint little greenhouse where different varieties of flowering plants were on display. All the flowers were in full bloom. The wonderful play of colours exhibited by the blooming flowers amazed us. The scene was mesmerizing and actually words cannot do justice to the beauty. We had a great time there, clicked a few pictures through mobile camera. This visit was undoubtedly o ne of the high points in our trip.
We came out of the greenhouse and saw a store in the same campus selling seeds and plant cuttings at an affordable price. Impressed as we were, we bought a few packs of flowering seeds and three lily tubers.
The Wait……
We returned back home a day after and were suffering from post-vacation depression. The plant babies we left outside our home were evidently sad. They needed tender loving care ASAP. It was our plant intensive care day (sunday), a usual grooming session of our plant babies. Along with our usual plant grooming session, we sowed the three lily tubers bought from Gangtok in a big sized earthern pot.
Somewhere inside I was thinking whether the bulb will germinate or not, since it was bought from a higher elevation where the ambient temperature is usually below 20 degrees for most of time of the year.
After around 4 to 5 weeks, we were elated to see the first leaf pushing out of the tube. Out of the three sown tubes, two plants managed to germinate. The plants grew quite fast, but we couldn’t see any flower bloom, even after a year and a half.
There were lots of ups and downs with the plant. Once our maid accidentally mishandled the plant leading to breakage of two major leaf blades… making us very sad!! ). It recovered finally.
March Lily : The Prize..
Now, after around 18 months of intensive care and patience, suddenly one fine morning, we could see a Lily bud appear in the month of March and our joy knew no bounds. Thereafter, the result is in front of you.
Fun facts about March Lily:
1.While the flower buds appeared, me and the wife were guessing what colour flower might be. I vouched for red/orange as I have seen them like this earlier, while the wife expected it to be white. And behold, to our surprise it turned out to be a variegated red and white lily. (Maybe, it overheard our conversation and didn’t want to disappont either of us!)
2.This Lily is called Amerylis and also March Lily in some places as it blooms in March 😊
Read more of our Garden related posts here.
