If we can survive until October, East Texas will enjoy what I like to call a “second spring.” Meanwhile, as the blazing heat of summer begins to ease, our gardens shift gears. Ruby-throated hummingbirds and monarch butterflies begin their long migrations, while a burst of deep red oxblood lilies signals “the end is in sight.”

Oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida), affectionately known as schoolhouse lilies or sometimes hurricane lilies, bloom at a different time each year following students returning to class. Their blood-red trumpets appear suddenly on bare stems after a soaking late-summer rain. Soon after, they send up fresh green foliage that lingers until spring, before quietly disappearing underground as round black bulbs through the heat of summer. They are in the amaryllis family with their better-known red spider lily cousins (Lycoris radiata), but they are shorter, even more noticeable, and grace us with their display several weeks or even a month earlier.

These Texas-tough bulbs have an equally colorful history. Brought from Argentina to Texas, they found a permanent home here thanks to early horticulturist Peter Heinrich Oberwetter of Comfort and Austin. In fact, it has been said there are now more oxblood lilies growing across Central Texas than in their native land.

Part of their charm is how little they demand. Whether in sandy soil, heavy clay, or East Texas loam, oxblood lilies return faithfully each fall. They require no irrigation, fertilizer, or pesticides, just patience, winter sunlight, and the gift of a late summer rain. As Scott Ogden wrote in Garden Bulbs for the South, “No other Southern bulb can match the fierce vigor, tenacity, and adaptability of the oxblood lily.”

Best of all, these bulbs live for generations. Once planted, they multiply and naturalize, living much longer than the gardener who first tucked them into the soil. Many of the most spectacular stands are still found around old homesteads, schools, and cemeteries, where they thrive undisturbed.

If you do not already have a friend or neighbor willing to share, the Smith County Master Gardeners’ annual From Bulbs to Blooms Conference and Sale is your chance. The 2025 online sale will be held October 13-22 with pickup October 25 at Pollard United Methodist Church in Tyler, following the lecture. The sale features a wide selection of time-tested heirloom, hardy, and hard-to-find bulbs, including oxblood lilies. I will be the “guest speaker” on Saturday October 25 highlighting the bulbs featured in the sale. For details, visit txmgsc.org or follow the Smith County Master Gardeners on Facebook.

As the first crimson trumpets pop through the soil soon, I can’t help but smile. Just as bands and football teams take the field, oxblood lilies announce with certainty: summer is over, and a new season has begun.

Greg Grant, Ph.D., is the Smith County horticulturist and Master Gardener coordinator for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Tyler. He is the author of Texas Fruit and Vegetable Gardening, Texas Home Landscaping, Heirloom Gardening in the South, and The Rose Rustlers. You can read his “Greg’s Ramblings” blog at arborgate.com, read his “In Greg’s Garden” in each issue of Texas Gardener magazine (texasgardener.com), or follow him on Facebook at “Greg Grant Gardens” or “Rebel Eloy Emanis Wildlife Sanctuary.” More science-based lawn and gardening information from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service can be found at aggieturf.tamu.edu and aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu.