‘Red Lion’

I forgot to show you my second amaryllis of the season!

It is absolutely scarlet. I adore it.

‘Apple Blossom’

It went from this:

To this:

I 14 hours. We could almost see the petals moving.

‘Apple Blossom’ is coming along.

Amaryllis 2023

It’s that time of year and I have been to Lowe’s. This year’s variety is ‘Apple Blossom’.

I have some glass pots that I prefer to use rather than the thin plastic one that came in the kit. As I got the bulb situated in the growing medium, I saw that it already has a bud coming up (!!!!!!) This may be a quick year.

The leaves are pale because it was sprouting in the box. They’ll darken up in a couple of days.

Amaryllis

I found a trio of amaryllises at Costco in 2019 and they have become a holiday tradition. My mother really likes them, so I decided to follow her lead.

A coworker had told me about buying all the bulbs that were on sale the day after Xmas one year and planting them in her yard. She said the patch bloomed the following year and has done so ever since. That was how I learned that having an amaryllis as a holiday decoration didn’t mean I had to try to store the bulb in my house and remember to do something with it the next year.

The first trio were probably ‘Red Lion’ because that seems to be the most common variety.

The next year, I got my mother a ‘Red Lion’ and ‘Picotee’ and ‘Minerva’ for me.

My mother had moved to a 5th floor apartment since the last time she had an amaryllis and her red blossom broke itself off reaching for the sun. She told me not to get any more for her.

I did plant her bulb in my front flower bed with my other red ones. The not-only-red bulbs go in the back.

The following year, I got ‘Magical Touch’ to be a contrast in the bed with ‘Picotee’ and ‘Minerva’.

Last year, I found one called ‘Zombie’ and it may be my favorite.

I love the pink pinstriping and the double petals.

A friend had been looking for an amaryllis during the holidays and every store she went to was sold out by the time she got there. She was a little miffed. So, when I found a few still available at Southern States last month, she was pleased to have me pick an ‘Apple Blossom’ up for her. And it is gorgeous.

They, also, had some sale bulbs that were dried out and sickly looking. So, I got a $5 ‘Apple Blossom’ gamble for myself and stuck it straight in the ground near its predecessors.

I put Diane’s bulb in a pot for her because it was going to be a week and a half before I saw her and it had already started sprouting. As I was messing with it, a teeny, tiny bulblet dropped off. It was just a bitty brown thing about the size of my pinkie fingernail. I stuck it in a pot of dirt and have been keeping the soil moist.

And it’s working.

It is so small. It’s not quite as long as the first joint of my pinkie. I’m really curious to see how long it takes to get any size and to bloom.