Garden Writer Elizabeth Lawrence on Writing and the Beautiful Nerine in the Autumn Garden

August 20, 1940

On this day, garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence wrote her sister:

I have finished [the chapter on] Summer, and I only have [the chapter on] Fall to do—which is short.

I hope I can get it done quickly, and have time to rewrite after your reading.

 

If you get back before I do [from a trip with Bessie and sister Ann], and can find time to look into my garden, will you see if Nerine undulata is in bloom?

And if it is, pick it when all of the flowers are out, and put it in your refrigerator until I get back.

It bloomed last year while I was gone, and I have never seen it, and it is the most exciting bulb I have.

 

I enclose a map of where it is, and of other things that might bloom.

Don’t bother about any of them—don’t look for Ridgeway [color chart]. I am taking it with me in case we get to any nurseries.…

Nerine undulata, an Amaryllis, grows 18 inches tall and has umbels of 8-12 slender, crinkly pale pink flowers that bloom in autumn.