Amaryllis
The amaryllis bulb will blossom into an exotic flower, 6 inches across, atop a strong 2-foot pillar of green. The flower stalk will appear from the midst of several strap-like leaves. You cannot mistake the flower bud as it grows rapidly, like a spear, looking for a target.
The six weeks a newly planted amaryllis needs to blossom completely is a fun time as the flower stalk grows about an inch a week. There may be the one large bloom or as many as four blooms on the single stalk.
Because the stalk is so tall and several blooms will be heavy, it is a good idea to gift a medium sized bamboo stake along with the plant. Put it into the pot as soon as the bulb is planted and it will be all set to be tied to the stalk when needed. You can easily buy green stakes to match the plant greens.
The flower is the most beautiful part of the plant, however the large bulb that the flower grows from, while not as beautiful as the flower, is a bit exotic looking. It looks like a big onion, with long hairy feet on the bottom. The long hairy parts are the roots that will grow longer and larger and anchor the plant into the soil
Gifting this plant to a gardener hostess, you may want to buy the amaryllis in its gift box that contains a pot, a flat pancake of soil to be rehydrated and the mighty bulb. She will know which end to put up and can read the easy growing instructions on the box.
A hostess that is not a gardener will appreciate if you open the box, do the hydrating thing, put in the stake and present it to her with a bow around the newly planted pot.
There will be some nice pointy light greens at the top end of the bulb and you just need to explain that this is where the flower spike will come from. She will just have to set it in bright light, indoors or out on the lanai, water it a couple times a week to keep soil moist. It really is fun to watch this plant grow so fast. It will not be in direct sun and as it starts to grow you will see it lean towards the sun. Do not set it in the sun; just turn it off and on to keep it growing straight up.
The flowers will last for several weeks. I never start any until at least November because the cooler weather seems to make them last longer. We can have some hot Octobers.
The center spike that the flowers are on can be cut right under the flowers only, or cut it way down. As the leaves turn yellow you can cut them off. This plant will bloom again next year if you lay it on its side in the shade and someplace where it is not out in the open. I winter mine in among some bushes.
Remember where you put them next November. Then you start over. There is one important step to remember while planting this large bulb into the soil. The bulb itself is not to be planted into the soil. The roots want to be completely in the soil. The bulb at least 3/4 out of the soil. The second year you may have to pull the bulb up out of the soil some. The roots grow deep and will actually pull the bulb down, depending on the depth of the pot.
The second year just start with bright light and keeping it moist and when you see the top starting to grow, enough water to keep it moist and then the fertilizer when blossoms begin.
All of the above is when you grow a boxed plant. You can also buy bare bulbs which cost a couple of dollars less and you can easily use your own good potting soil and your own pot to start a plant.
A single bulb likes to be snug in the pot so you do not need a large pot. The roots like a lot of room to grow down so do not use a shallow pot. You can also pot several bulbs in the same pot. I do not do this because it seems to cramp the large blooms too much.
I prefer several individual pots and I group them or not, depending on which is blooming when. The bulbs can be started at two-week intervals and then you can have something blooming for long periods. I have at least seven bulbs in single pots. I also have several out in the yard growing well. You put them in a morning sunny spot and plant them with the roots down and the bulb itself out of the soil 3/4th of its size.
The Fort Myers/Lee County Garden council had an amaryllis grower speak at a recent meeting and he swears you can set the bulb right on top of the soil and the roots will find their way down into the soil all by themselves. I don’t really like those roots out on top, so I will always tuck them in. Actually I had never even heard of just setting the bulb on top of the soil. I had wondered for some time why I always had to be brushing off the dirt around the bulbs every fall. It never occurred to me the roots were digging their way down and down and taking the bulbs with them.
All bulbs will make little baby bulbs. They can be left on for a couple of years and then re- potted. They will take two or three years to start to produce flowers.
This is not a scented flower but it is so spectacular you won’t even care. If all of this potting, etc., sounds like too much, just look around now and you will see amaryllis in pots from about $7.50 each to $15. The cost has to do more with the type of pot the bulb is planted in, not the kind of bulb you are getting.
You may become addicted to these plants. My favorites are called apple blossom and minerva. They are both tri-colored. Minerva has a deep red
Background with spikes of white splashed across its large blooms. The apple blossom is a pastel pink with white splashes. There are at least two shades of red and there are some pinks.
In case anyone is interested these plants originated in the Andes Mountains of South America. This means they can only be grown outdoors in the USDA zones 9-11. That is us.
Happy gardening until we meet again.
H. Jean Shields is a past president of the Cape Coral Garden Club.