An ET Any Lady Would Love:
Not An Extraterrestrial At All

The majestic beauty of an Elizabeth Traub crinum is a breathtaking sight every time it blooms, even if you’ve seen it a hundred times!

The ET crinum produces elegantly tall 4′ scapes topped with a dozen or more fragrant dark rose-mauve flowers sporting delicate white throats and pale yellow centers. Flowers generally appear in early June through mid-July. The 2-3′ mounds of wide, glossy green foliage are abundant from the first warmth of spring until just past the first light frosts.

Elizabeth Traub prefers consistently moist soil and blooms well in full sun to partial shade. The ET does not produce seed: it is propagated by division only. Bulbs can be divided about every three years. Fall is the ideal time for dividing the bulbs and re-planting, so that they have all winter to grow new roots and prepare for the next season.

Grown in zones 6b to 10b, this magnificent crinum hybrid was developed in the 1930’s by the famous crinum breeder, Hamilton Traub. Botanists disagree on whether it is a cross of the C. ‘Cecil Houdyshel’ x C. ‘Ellen Bosenquet’ as his records show, or a cross of the C. ‘Ellen Bosenquet’ x C. ‘Scabrum’. Some say he named it after his wife, who edited Plant Life (magazine) for many years. Others say he never married and named it after his mother.

Either way, this giant red-pink lily can be found in botanical gardens from coast to coast. Especially hardy in zones 8-11, ideal for zone 9. What’s ideal about zone 9 is the weather here is just warm enough for the plant to reach luscious proportions and grow quickly, but just cold enough in the winter to eliminate much of the pest problems from more southernly zones.