Mates for Supper + Naked Ladies

I had two good blogging friends {Julie who used to write a food blog, and Wendi, who still does} to supper this evening, and we were able to take advantage of the lovely weather and eat outside. I found the candelabra at a thrift shop, and it was a rather garish blue, so I spray-painted it  a dull silvery-gold, which suits it perfectly. Instead of using my Royal Copenhagen china, we used some great pale blue enamel-ware plates with silver rims. The French Ivory cutlery worked perfectly against this linen tablecloth from Williams-Sonoma.

Now on to the Naked Ladies… They’re a variety of lilies (Lycoris squamigera), and they’re called Naked Ladies because they don’t have any leaves on them. Not on the stems, not in the ground, not any leaves at all. And they just pop up out of the ground in late summer over a four or five day period! There are five to seven flowers on each stalk, which comes straight up from the ground. These plants belong to the amaryllis family and are native to southern Japan. They are also known as Magic Lilies or Surprise Lilies, but it’s much funnier to call them Naked Lady Lilies, a name by which they are also known. I think I am going to have to plant them in my garden next summer!