" loading="" class="lazyload size-article_feature" data-sizes="auto" data-src="" src="https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Gardening_Amaryllis_93056.jpg?w=263"/>
This picture offered by Jeff Lowenfels exhibits an Amaryllis bulb in bloom on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Jeff Lowenfels by way of AP)
By JEFF LOWENFELS
Easter has lilies. Thanksgiving has gourds. Christmas has poinsettias. And Valentine’s Day ought to have amaryllis.
For the uninitiated, amaryllises are huge bulbs that may produce among the many greatest and showiest flowers a gardener can develop indoors (perhaps open air too). Better of all, water and a bit of sunshine is all it takes to coax these bulbs into producing their enormous flowers, 6 to eight inches throughout.
Spectacular is one phrase for them. Straightforward could be one other. Amaryllises are “simply add water and stand again” crops; they don’t require any talent to develop efficiently.
FROM BULB TO FLOWERS
The bulbs often begin showing on retailer cabinets across the December holidays, simply when they're popping out of dormancy. They develop all through this era, typically even whereas of their packaging. They first present a little bit of inexperienced shoot on the high of the bulb. It takes about 6 weeks for this shoot to elongate and produce two to 4 gigantic flowers.
Whereas amaryllis bulbs are nice Christmas stocking stuffers, the flowers themselves seem round Valentine’s Day. And whereas there are a number of totally different species with blooms of various colours (pinks, whites and mixtures), most specimens — as luck would have it for Saint Valentine — are that vacation’s coloration, vibrant pink.
Lots of the bulbs are bought already potted up in soil. If not, use nicely draining potting soil, wealthy in organics, and a 6-to-8-inch pot that permits for an inch or two of soil between the bulb and the pot’s rim. A heavy pot is really helpful because the common amaryllis stalk can attain 2½ to three ft tall and can tip over a light-weight container if not supported.
If you must plant your individual bulb, place it so roughly one-third of it's above the soil line. Water nicely as soon as, and after that hold the soil simply barely moist. Leaves and at the very least one flower stalk will rapidly develop. Often the flower stalk seems first. You possibly can distinguish it from the creating leaves by the attribute notch in its tip.
As soon as watered, you possibly can virtually see the amaryllis crops rising. In case you are fortunate, your bulb will produce multiple shoot. Both manner, benefit from the show.
HELP YOUR PLANT REBLOOM NEXT YEAR
As soon as the flowers fade, fastidiously reduce them off. The stalk will die subsequent and this, too, must be eliminated. The leaves, nonetheless, must be left undisturbed, and the plant must be allowed to develop all spring and summer season.
Some gardeners put theirs exterior for the season. An utility or two of an natural fertilizer will assist encourage extra leaf progress which, in flip, strengthens the bulb so it would produce once more subsequent 12 months. In mid-August or so, withhold water and put the plant in a darkish, cool location for at the very least eight weeks; it would cease rising and go dormant. After this therapy, you possibly can carry the plant out into the sunshine, water it and stand again once more.
As a result of these are probably the most spectacular flowers you possibly can develop indoors, purchase as many as you possibly can if you stumble upon amaryllis bulbs on the market. Most are underneath $15, pot and all. Accomplish that and you'll get pleasure from Valentines for years to come back.