Amaryllis Time
Written on February 5, 2010 at 2:54 pm , by James A. Baggett
That thick layer of snow outside hasn’t dampened my garden spirits one bit. On the contrary, after perusing the seed and plant catalogs piled up beside my bed, I’m inspired to fill my windowsills with pots of blooming color. And to me, amaryllis look best right around now, when the days are slowly getting longer and the desire for a little garden activity makes everybody a little loopy. The massive trumpet-shaped blossoms of amaryllis have an otherworldly appearance—and they are surprisingly easy to grow indoors. Amaryllis are tender bulbs with tropical origins; they have been bred by the Dutch to produce vigorous three-foot-tall stems that bear nine-inch wide blooms in red, white, pink, peach, green, salmon, striped, and spotted. There are even miniature and pointy-petaled cultivars. For the past couple of years I’ve been tending a little variegated (a nice white stripe down the center of the leaves) one, the bulb no bigger than a walnut.
Bulbs potted up shortly after the new year will be in full regalia well before the vernal equinox on March 20th (it takes about 6 to 8 weeks after planting for the bulbs to actually bloom). Before I moved to Iowa, I had some three dozen amaryllis that I’d collected over the years and overwinter in the basement of the brownstone in which I lived. There’s no good reason to throw out a perfectly good amaryllis once it’s done blooming since they’re a cinch to get to bloom again the following year. After your amaryllis is finished blooming, cut off the stalk and treat the straplike foliage just like any other houseplant until it’s warm enough to move onto into the garden for the summer. Come September, move them into a cool, dark spot and allow them to dry up and drop their leaves. Then, a couple of months before you want blooms on your windowsills, start the indoor-forcing process all over again. I usually repot my bulbs with fresh potting soil and time-release fertilizer for extra oomph. I also like to provide the stalks with added support by tying them to a stake; this helps them hold their heavy heads—usually with three to four massive flowers each—upright.
Some of my favorite amaryllis include ‘Charmeur’ (rose-orange), ‘Red Peacock’ (red with white veins), ‘Nymph’ (double white with pink stripes), ‘Amourette’ (white and apple-blossom pink), ‘Picotee’ (pure white with a red edge), ‘Jewe;’ (white petals around a frilled cup with a yellow throat), ‘Nagano’ (soft salmon etched in white), and ‘Apple Blossom’ (white with pale pink feathering and a minty-green throat).
One Response to “Amaryllis Time”
February 15, 2010 at 6:27 pm, by yvonne
Hmmmm…thanks for making our loopy days feel shorter! I appreciate your article. I wish I could see more than white and red amaryllis some day. Thanks, Yvonne