Amaryllises of the Mid-Atlantic: Share your blooms!

Whichever you call it, and Joyanna's is a perfect name for it, it's a beauty. Doc, Thank you for the 'recipe'. There is a feed store on the other side of the mountain and they seem to have everything, so I'll take a trip in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for my Bogota to open completely.

ha ha Jill, the non plant people will be lucky if they remember 'amaryllis' ---isn't it sad!?!

Oh my goodness: On the run today.

McDonalds.....saussage bisquet, yogert and decalf coffee.

Wendies.......Whopper.....I tossed the roll and ate only one third of the fries. Decalf coffee

Decent home towner restrurant: Bowl of Beef Noodle, cottage cheeze and pear salad. Decalf coffee. Left the crackers.

Exercise: Went to gym just to loosen up the tired road muscles. Half an hour and that was it.

No snack: Cup and a half of tea. ....and to bed early.

Here's the first flower on the one stem, another stem is not visible at this attitude. The other three bulbs are a couple weeks off. I must read about photography so I can get the full beauty of these babies.

Sorry it's Bogota

My Bogota grew an inch this week, so now I can see the whole flower bud poking up from the bulb... LOL... your photo has me all excited! Gorgeous!!

Here is the one I gave my Mom Appleblossom? Well it is Apple something, and my knees aren't good enough to run the stairs and get the tag. LOL Critter will know...... It's a big one with 3 blooms right now and another bloom coming.

Yup, that looks like 'Appleblossom' to me. So pretty!

Well between all that walking Sat & Sun and then today at the gym and shop till you drop after, my knees aren't happy. If I go up those steps to look up my list I won't be coming back down. LOL

Attention!! Brent and Becky's Bulbs are haveing a 50% off sale on left over Ammarllis bulbs. This sale will be done Jan 15th. I just ordered a Charisma and a Santos.

Just go to there website.

If you buy them now could you store them for next winter or just grow them now?

grow them now

:-)

From what I understand they should be potted up as soon as you receive them. Some may not have bloomed yet, and they need to grow to store energy for next years blooms.

What do you think Jill ?

Yep, that's what I think, too.

If they've already bloomed, then you're growing them on for next year. If they haven't already bloomed, you should get a bloom or two to enjoy before growing them on.

In case anybody is new to keeping amaryllies for next year, here's an "Amaryllis 101" article I wrote that might be helpful: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/468/

Jill, my Mom had one that she grew, there was a show on TV back then, I remember the guy's name was Frank Curto (?) I think he was the curator-horticulturist at Phipps conservatory in Pgh. After she watched the show on amaryllis she got it to bloom every year. She summered it out side, but grew it in a clay pot, and she would dig a hole and plant pot and all. Then pull up the pot in the early fall and put it in the root celler and forget about it till around Christmas. After the tree was down the Amaryllis took it's place and was fun to watch.

If she'd given it a bit bigger pot over the years, I wonder if it would have increased? Somebody has a huge pot of red amaryllises that they've posted photos of, started with a single bulb. :-)

That's fun to have had one for so many years!

I remembered that one bulb had baby bulbs, she would take them off and plant them in their own pot. Beyond that I don't remember. Growing up your interest turns to other things. LOL

Yes, pot that baby up in a pot not much larger than the bulb. They enjoy feeling enclosed. I put half a dozen or so in a bowl-shaped terra cotta pot. They came back for several years. I had to leave them behind when we left Florida. I just placed an order with High Country Gardens. They won't be here until May 3 LOL. I just couldn't help myself. Bluestone Perennials, you guys are next! Oh, and I got my White Flower Farm catalog. The pictures are fantastic, the gardens dreamy, but they are pricy now that I'm not a working girl.

Yoooo Ho Hooo Ho and a barrel of joe. Here is my sheet steel bobble head and tailed chicken presenting my flower for this thread.

Hey Doc you have one handsome rooster to crow about. LOL
That flower is lookin good, too. Holly

Nice chickie, Doc!

You all were teasing me about sexing a frog earlier this year. Now you all can sex the bird. I know what the catalog said but I am not telling. ROGLMAO

Nice looking Roo, Doc, like the blue eyes! Nice looking Amaryllis too!

Looks male to me.

It's not only male but a Rhode Island Red, and that's my story and I'm sticking to it. LOL

I was late in planting my Zombie. It will probably bloom this week.

My other old Amaryllis, which I repotted this fall aren't doing anything. If they don't bloom in the next 12 months, I guess that I'll go back to forcing them.

It's a girl chicken. Regardless of what the catalog said. :-)

Nice bloom, Doc!

My 'Blossom Peacock' opened this past week... love the double bloom and the markings... just might be my all time favorite amaryllis, although they are so different and all so pretty it's hard to pick a favorite!

Here's one last bloom from my trio of 'Fanfare' bulbs... they were really cute at Christmas, but do you think I managed to get a photo? LOL

I got mixed up above when I mentioned waiting for Bogota to bloom... the one that's being really slow for me is Benefica. I didn't actually order a Bogota... but one that was supposed to be 'Ruby Meyer' looks like it's 'Bogota', so I have one after all! The lighter red and cream at the bottom of the bloom is different and really lovely.

not-Ruby-Meyer, aka 'Bogota'

Jill, Whatever it's known as, it's got a very unique coloration. I think my Benefica is going to bloom tomorrow.

Jill, Your Peacock is absolutely about the prettiest my eyes have ever seen. Another thing I have become very much aware of is bulb size. When I pay for the size is when I get the nicer bloom. No more price leaders for this buyer. I'll pay for one or two premium size bulbs any day in the week rather than a bag full of Walmart specials.

Doc, I'm with you, although the smaller bulbs will be bigger next year if you treat 'em right. This 'Blossom Peacock' from eFlowerGarden was a smaller bulb (with a very nice price!), and it's putting up 1 bloom stalk... the "jumbo" bulbs of 'Red Peacock' and 'Snow Drift' from Willow Creek are putting up 3 blooms stalks each!

I had a small bulb last year. First it only threw up leaves when as a bagged special little bulb. I messed with it all winter and tried to grow it on all summer. It turned out to be one of my few growing failures. Trashed it this past fall after inspecting what still looked like a bad day at the farm to me.

Over the years I have had a few premium size bulbs. They have maintained their size and some got even larger. Most were good for three or four years when I did my part. Fact...I think I got what I paid for and enjoyed those better bulbs for three and four years.

My Amaryllis are about 20 years old. Maybe they are just worn out.

I did check on my Zombie today and found that it has a second bloom stalk.

I've heard and known of folks that got at least a half dozen years of returning bloom. My entry into growing this flower has been maybe a dozen times over fifty years. I never really tried to hard to nurse them into additional years except when I had what looked like a premium size bulb. I have not been good at the growing it on and in fact maybe did not give it a decent try.

They have arrived! The bulbs for the B&B sale came yesterday, I'll be potting them up either this afternoon or tomarrow. But I just want to show you what you missed out on. ( I don't know if the sale is still going on)

Edited to let you know Jan 15th is the last day to order the 50% off bulbs.

This message was edited Jan 14, 2010 2:48 PM

Very nice! I've grown Charisma before, love the shading on the petals... and people from the recent co-op have been exclaiming over their Santos blooms! (I'd have a harder time resisting if I didn't have more bulbs in various stages of budding, LOL.. ok, I'm still having a hard time resisting.)

doc---

My Amaryllis bubs are quite old too. NOT sure how old--maybe 10 years or so???? I have about 8.

I have several pots--but the BIG pot (about 14" dia.) has 4 bulbs in it--and some of them are producing off-shoots.
I don't think any of the off-shoot bulbs have actually bloomed yet.

I was inspired to plant 4 big bulbs in a big pot by Allan Summers when he still had his Radio Show--"Gardening Club"....He sure educated many of us here.....Kind of, our/my local gardening Guru.

Allan Summers used to "preach" the steps one had to take to winter over an Amaryllis and that a new off-shoot bulb had to have at least 5 leaves growing out of it before it would bloom the following year.

My method of dealing with Amaryllis is probably NOT very good. I bring them in too late......then after all the leaves go "yuk" and fall off--I let the bulbs "rest" for another month or so. (That's what Allen said to do). Then--I either refresh the top of the soil--or totally re pot them.
They DO spend the Summers outdoors in decent light, but they are behind my clumps of Northern Sea Oats---SO! Out of sight--Out of mind.....My biggest faux-pas is that i do not feed them hardly at all......I KNOW they need it--but--I do not. They get watered when i water my garden in that area.

Right now--the tops have all been cut back and the top of the soil has been "refreshed" with new MG Potting Mix.
I also watered them, but they are still residing in my cool, semi-dark basement. . They still have not shown any signs of buds emerging from the tips of the bulbs.
According to Allan Summers--that is when you bring them up in regular, warmer temperatures and start watering --and then the shoots will come. Sadly--many times it is only shoots of leaves--NOT buds (like last year--I hardly had any flowers). Seems like, almost every other year, it is either lot of bloom--or NOT!
When i re-pot them--most of the bulbs have almost NO roots to them. They seem all dried and shriveled.
-- Is it because I do not water them enough????
--Is it because I do not feed then enough?
--Is it because of shear negligence of the whole plant? I DO tend to ignore my plants.....believe it or not!
--Should I totally remove the bulbs from the soil in the Fall and give them a rest? Like--dry--in a box somewhere?

OR!!!!! Like many others do---should I just keep the plants alive in a bright window (???) and watered all through the Winter and let them "do their thing"?????? Bloom as they wish--none of this dormancy stuff! Doesn't seem to really do any good.

I have 6 pots of Amaryllis. All of them are OK and alive and NOT sick in any way--BUT--using the "schedule" of what I know to do with them--I never see them bloom until March. Last year was pathetic!!!!

I DO realize that--this whole "process" starts with WHEN I choose to bring them in and start the dormancy---which should be in August--something.....I seldom do it until it is getting cold--and i am bringing all my other plants inside--which is too late for the Amaryllis to ever bloom around the Holidays.

OK! Any comments are welcome! And, Jill, I have read your 2 posts on Amaryllis. Where am I screwing up??????

Thanks--Gita

I'm confused, because you mention growing them outside in summer, but you also imply that you don't keep them growing through the winter... If you are letting them go dormant before they bloom (after bringing them in) and then again after they bloom (over the winter, before putting them out in your garden), then I'd say they don't like that.

After they bloom in winter, put them in however much sunny window you have available, and water them as you would any houseplant (a little fertilizer is good too).

When they're outside in summer, they do like water... they'll survive if they're on the dry side but won't thrive. If you don't see roots when you lift them in fall, then they're not doing much out there. If you don't fertilize them when you water, maybe you could plant them out with some time release fertilizer. Mine like a little Osmocote.

I do have some pots of amaryllis in the basement window that have been very neglected, didn't get planted out last year, watering has been spotty, etc. They are still alive (must be tough!) but haven't bloomed this year. I'll take better care of them & see what they do next year. :-)