The Christmas Crinum

I’ve had my eye on this lovely little lady for the past few weeks, obnoxiously posting photos and video of this slow growing gal getting ready to bloom. It’s not surprising that Crinum bloom on their own time after a good, hearty rain. What *is* surprising is the timing of her extravagant entrance….Christmas Day, 3 weeks after a freeze. I’ve never heard of such a thing! In fact, I don’t even know what variety of Heirloom Crinum this is, I just know she’s old and apparently a Christmas lover, much like myself!
I have searched the internet in a quest to find her proper name besides Christmas Crinum. I have even “reverse Google-searched” with her photo (didn’t even know that was a thing) but all I could come up with was Jubilee. I like the name, but she doesn’t quite match the description or photos. Swamp Lily also came up, but that’s too ugly of a name for her. If any of you Crinum lovers out there have a hunch of her true identity, please let me know. There’s a Crinum collector in Florida who I hope to connect with over the Holidays. Maybe he will know. For now, her name shall remain my Christmas Crinum.

I have heartedly enjoyed watching the bloom cycle of the Christmas Crinum. It feels like the entire month has been consumed with thoughts about what she’d look like and when she’d actually bloom. I went outside more times than I care to admit, just to see if any progress had been made. I counted the actual bloom stems, pulled them gently apart to see if they made it to 12 blooms per stem (12 Apostles) but 10 seems to be the number she will sport. Another little fun fact about the Christmas Crinum is that she’s blooming in the ugliest part of the whole garden. I have upwards of a thousand Crinum (all at different stages of growth) at the Agape Haus Studio and Garden, but nothing is blooming. But yet, in the poorest rocky soil, in the grossest part of a neglected patch near the garage, the Christmas Crinum blooms. So lowly a place for such a beautiful reminder of endurance and hope during the first Christmas without my Dad.

This beautiful Christmas Crinum has reminded me about the Christ Child, and the moment the Lord reached down to all humanity, providing the gift of Salvation in a lowly manger. A manger that held redemption in human form, which became the greatest and most beautiful gift of all.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Happy Gardening, my friends! Merry Christmas!