They are a bit hard to see in this photo because they’ve started to wilt, but those sticks along the walkway are Surprise Lilies, also called Magic Lilies or Naked Ladies. They are in the amaryllis family, but you’d think they were in the allium family because their bulbs look like a giant onion.

It took me three days to plant 42 of them, and that doesn’t include the 4 I gave to the neighbor. I came home each day this week and spent an hour outside after work trying to find places to put them, and planted about 10 on Tuesday and another 10 on Wednesday. I didn’t realize I had so many until I decided to finish planting them yesterday afternoon.

When I went home this weekend, my sister took me to my dad’s home. He rented a trailer which they have been cleaning out in order to vacate because my dad is recovering in a nursing home right now from a fall that happened in March. It is unlikely that he will come home for quite some time, if at all. My sister gave me a few of my dad’s belongings, but of course I was eyeing the flowers out front in a makeshift flower bed my dad had. I’ve always liked these lilies because they look like alliums, which are one of my favorites, just a tall stalk with no leaves. But the lilies bloom in summer.

So I grabbed a shovel and started digging. I didn’t know I’d taken almost 50 of them, even though I took almost all that there was. But I’m glad I did. I found some nice spots for them in the garden, including this row of them along the walkway. We plan to fill in with irises in between. And now I have something from my dad in my garden.