The Variegated Thumb

I have gotten several Amaryllis bulbs over the years and have kept them alive, with leaves nearly all of the time, but rarely get blooms from them.  About a month ago, my friend, fellow IAS member and plant blogger, Jason was at my house, standing in the greeenhouse, talking plants.  He’s a big Amaryllis nut and I mentioned that I had three growing on the bottom shelf there in the greenhouse.  I mentioned that I just let them grow year round and don’t bother forcing dormancy or anything.  He said that is really the best way to grow them.  But, I told him, mine never bloom…  That’s when he said, “But, you’ve got one about to bloom right now!”

My recent Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) bloom

I looked down to see that one of the Amaryllis had, sure enough, put up a stem, which was growing through the next shelf level.  I carefully removed the plant from the shelves and brought it in the house to a sunny window, where it opened a couple of days later.  None of my plants were labeled – probably from the beginning – since they were grocery store bought bulbs.  But this one has really nice vibrant red and white blooms.  Up close the flower is even more attractive.

Closeup of Amaryllis (Hippeastrum)

I looked back in my blog history and could only find the one other picture of one of my Amaryllis bulbs in bloom.  Thankfully it was a picture of both of the other two plants, so now I know what I have – a solid red, a solid pink and a red and white striped.  I don’t know the names, but maybe Jason will help me out with that over time.