Amaryllis are exploding all over my dining room plant area.\u00a0 The enormous bulb that I bought back in November now boasts two flower stalks with a total of eight huge white blooms and another four-bloom stalk on the way.\u00a0 A second pot features a brilliant red-flowered variety, its dramatic coloration enhanced by the giant white stars that shine forth from the middle of each bloom.\u00a0 The plant has four gaudy trumpets now and is sprouting another stalk that will bear four more blooms shortly.<\/p>\n
The red-flowered amaryllis, purchased for the holidays last year, has been the test subject for a year-long amaryllis care experiment.\u00a0 At this moment, as I gaze in awe at the big, bright blooms, I can report that the experiment was an unqualified success.<\/p>\n
The whole process started last year when I went on an archeological expedition in my cellar and uncovered the remains of several forgotten potted amaryllis bulbs.\u00a0 They were former holiday plants that I had cosseted through the winter, taken outside for a summer vacation and returned indoors after Labor Day. In keeping with the conventional wisdom on amaryllis aftercare, I placed the pots in a dark corner of the cellar to induce the dormancy that triggers repeat flowering. They were supposed to stay there for eight weeks.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately my brain also went dormant, I forgot all about the amaryllis and they never re-emerged from the cellar for a second year of bloom.\u00a0 While taking the desiccated remains to the compost pile, I vowed to try something new and different.\u00a0 Last year I did so.<\/p>\n
When I purchased last year\u2019s holiday amaryllis, I watered and tended it as always and the blooms were lovely.\u00a0 After the holidays, the plant remained on the sunny windowsill, producing the long, strap-like leaves that are characteristic of amaryllis.\u00a0 In the summer it went outside to bask in the warmth and light.\u00a0 I added a slow-release fertilizer spike to the pot.\u00a0 Last fall the experiment began.\u00a0 Instead of sending the amaryllis into exile in the cellar, I brought it back to the sunny dining room windowsill it occupied last year.\u00a0 I did not repot, because amaryllis prefer close quarters, and I did not stop watering.\u00a0 As the holidays neared, I bought some fresh bulbs, to guarantee color no matter how the experiment came out.\u00a0 The new white-flowered amaryllis began sprouting.\u00a0 A few days later, the tip of a flower stalk emerged from the year-old red amaryllis.\u00a0 Clearly, it aimed to rebloom.<\/p>\n
The ancestors of modern hybrid amaryllis grew in Central and South America.\u00a0 The plants went through the seasons, receiving more or less light and water, depending on the time of year.\u00a0 No one thought to induce dormancy by putting them in a closet or cellar and they bloomed anyway.\u00a0 In their spare time, the healthy amaryllis reproduced by seeds and small offshoot \u201cdaughter\u201d bulbs.\u00a0 When plant explorers discovered the species, the bulbs made debuts in Europe and North America.\u00a0 By the last decades of the twentieth century, they had become staples of the holiday plant trade.<\/p>\n
Clearly, inducing dormancy, by withholding water and closeting the amaryllis in a dark place for six to eight weeks is the best way to produce flowers within a specific time frame.\u00a0 This is very useful for commercial growers and dedicated amateurs who want to be sure of flowers for the holidays.\u00a0 For the rest of us, plagued by forgetfulness and other responsibilities, it\u2019s nice to know that you can let an amaryllis do its own thing and the amaryllis will still reward you with blooms.<\/p>\n
After the red amaryllis finishes blooming, I will continue the experiment. This year I will repot in a slightly larger container before proceeding exactly as I did last year.\u00a0 I hope that I can get my plant to rebloom again and, possibly, produce an offshoot that I can separate from the parent plant and grow on to blooming size.<\/p>\n
If you want to try this experiment for yourself, start out with the biggest amaryllis bulbs you can buy.\u00a0 They are more expensive, but you are paying for the amount of energy stored in the bulb.\u00a0 Larger bulbs equal more stored energy.<\/p>\n
I will always feel the urge to buy new, colorful amaryllis varieties, but it is nice to know that I don\u2019t have to shut those bulbs in a closet for eight weeks to get more flowers.\u00a0 It is also nice to take a horticultural leap of faith and flout conventional wisdom every once in awhile.\u00a0 A little rebellion\u2014especially when it is relatively risk free\u2014is good for the soul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amaryllis are exploding all over my dining room plant area.\u00a0 The enormous bulb that I bought back in November now boasts two flower stalks with a total of eight huge white blooms and another four-bloom stalk on the way.\u00a0 A second pot features a brilliant red-flowered variety, its dramatic coloration enhanced by the giant white … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3,5],"tags":[497,741,743,742,492,740],"class_list":["post-990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","category-winter","tag-amaryllis","tag-forcing-bulbs","tag-hippeastrum","tag-holiday-plants","tag-houseplants","tag-reblooming-amaryllis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":991,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions\/991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}