I’m wishing a very happy Easter to everyone! Easter means various things to different people and different religions, but it’s always a time of celebration. Even if you’re not religious, Easter is a celebration of spring, renewed life, and warmer weather. There are also lots of symbols of Easter, including beautiful flowers, and particularly lilies. That’s why it seemed appropriate to choose a native lily as the subject for this Easter Sunday post.

This particular lily is an Atamasco lily (Zephryanthes atamasco), often called a rain lily, an Easter lily, zephyr lily, or a naked lady. I found it growing wild in a drainage ditch in the little town that’s near where I live. These lilies are native to the southeastern United States from Deleware to Florida and west as far as Mississippi. They grow in moist areas with rich, acidic soil including swamp edges, swampy forest lands, and moist coastal prairies. They like full or partial sunlight, and do well in gardens as well as in the wild. In our area it’s not uncommon to find these flowers growing wild in drainage ditches or around retention ponds. They’re perennials and once established in an area will come up year after year. The lady who lives in the house where I stopped to photograph these told me that she had lived there for eight years and that they came up every spring. I think that’s a lovely celebration of the Easter season right there. Happy Easter, 2023!