CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Known under several names, Naked Ladies began popping up this week in Eastern Iowa.
The perennial flowers, also known as magic lilies or surprise lilies, rise in synchronicity like clockwork.
If you see them popping up in one part of town, you’ll likely see them in another.
The easy-to-grow plant sports daffodil-like foliage early in the season, which disappears with the summer’s heat. By late July or early August, pink flowers tinged in blue simultaneously pop up on bare stalks, seemingly out of nowhere.
In Cedar Rapids in 2026, the elegant pink flowers began appearing on July 30.
During drought, the flowers might delay their appearance until they receive sufficient rain, but generally pop up by early August.
Another name for the flower formally known as Lycoris squamigera — in the amaryllis family — is resurrection lily.
The plants are a staple at Iowa farms and grow best in partial shade or full sun. Bulbs can be divided as the plants multiply.
Find photos of another emergence: Stages of the monarch butterfly
No Comments Yet