Montclair’s naked ladies deserve some respect!  They are lovely pink amaryllis flowers which have begun blooming on our hillsides right now – and are pretty much the only burst of color we’ll see during September.

The SF Chronicle reported about the naked ladies appearing in the lowlands nearly a month ago, and apparently they grow in all kinds of nooks and crannies there.  While these blooms take more time to emerge in Montclair, they eventually cover fields and can make quite a statement.

One of our neighbors, who has been living here for years, told me he has been planting them on our brown hillsides.  There are a few scattered up and down our street right now.  Unfortunately, he has mixed success because neighbors pick them all the time.

So I can’t resist declaring this:  We are killing the ladies, and it’s time to respect them.