Who'd like an Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) thread?

[daisychain01]

I treated myself to 3 Amaryllis bulbs from M&S last week and reminded myself what a great addition those lovely big chunky bulbs are to the Christmas season.

It's such a positive feeling, giving them a water and watching them turning green and the leaves emerging over the weeks, when most things in the garden are going to sleep.

The bulbs I chose are:

Dancing Queen
Apple Blossom
Minerva

Lesson learned from last year - stake them up before the flowers form, as their stems aren't always strong enough to hold the multi-flower varieties upright. One of nature's design flaws! Supporting them when the stem is just emerging helps it a lot. Other than that, they are remarkably self-sufficient.

it will be lovely to see everyone's bulbs flowering as we get closer to Christmas.

Back later with my photos.

PS One of my bulbs from last Christmas started flowering in July so I put it in a pot with some new compost and a bit of vermiculite, but it was very indifferent -a few leaves but no flower. It's now sulking in the greenhouse, I think it peaked too soon!

We’ve been away and the lidl one in a glass jar has flowered. The two plant yourself ones from sainsburys all seem to have mould growth on the soil but finally green shoots. Any idea how to improve the environment for the plant yourself ones?

@mumobsessedwithdamp I've never had an amaryllis come up blind, I hope yours are just delayed. There will be a few of remaindered ones around, perhaps you could grab one as a back up? If they've any left, Ikea had reduced theirs to £1.

Do you have any Baby Bio, @TakeMe2Insanity a dilute solution added to the compost the next time you water it might give it a little boost.

Ive got 4 on the go atm, 2 of them are romping ahead, one is slowly ambling along nicely and the fourth one hasn't even got off the starting blocks yet, but I noticed today it has a couple of chunky shoots so that's hopeful.

I've retrieved a few small canes from the greenhouse as they look like they need support especially the 2 'rompers'

i will try to upload a few photos tomorrow.

I was getting a bit worried that my number 4 was going to be blind @IcakethereforeIam but then I noticed the shoots today and thought phew, looks like she's finally woken up 😊

Looking forward to the pictures.

Finally came out Boxing Day

Oh good thinking. Thanks @daisychain01

That's good @Carriemac

That's a lovely one @Carriemac has it opened up further - those doubles are gorgeous. You've put it in a perfect high sided glass vase for support.

Mine are hopefully going to cheer me up in the dreary days of January - they're definitely nowhere near flowering yet. I can't believe how dark it's been today, miserable!!!

The one on the right is on a Go-slow.

I'm going to try some Baby Bio next watering, either than or a kick up the bum!

@daisychain01 - I always put the lazy ones by the radiator to kick start them - the one in the white pot is an M&as one bought start of December and that is now taking off.

The one in the gold pot just flowering is one retrieved early December from the shed where it was stored after flowering last Christmas. The bulb was quite shrivelled and I didn’t think it would flower again but lo and behold!

The final one, with three buds was bought from IKEA today for £1 - couldn’t resist!!

I blame this thread 😂

pics didn’t load the first time

Oh they're fab @Maggiethecat

I've been so pleased with my Ikea and I paid full price! Just as well I don't live too close to one, I don't think I could have resisted getting even more.

Just planted my first ever amaryllis! Popped it on a south facing window and gave it a drink of rain water. It's white, only word on box that may be its name is Venus. Picture of white flower. Going to read the whole thread now to learn your tips and tricks! Happy New Year for later.

Noticed there's no compost in a few of the photos. Is there an advantage either way. Beautiful photos everyone, they really look exotic!

I’ve only just got round to planting the Gervase I bought weeks ago. Very excitingly, I was given a nameless amaryllis for Christmas which has two flower spikes. It might go some way to compensating for my having killed off the rest of my collection by putting them in the garden for the summer and forgetting about them until it got cold. I’m inspecting them daily for signs of life.

@Maggiethecat I think the dark red is absolutely beautiful.

I've never seen them before grown without compost. I think they'd need to be planted in something unless they were just for the bin after flowering.

@Carriemac yours in the glass looks just amazing. I wouldn’t have thought they could be treated like that.

Everyone’s photos are lovely. Better luck for me next year :)

@IcakethereforeIam - it is! One day later opened up some more and you can see how deep the red is. Interestingly, the tips have a bit of white in them - sure that’s not how it was last year but just grateful that it bloomed again.

That is gorgeous! Well done on enticing it to flower a second year.

I posted a picture of my ‘la Paz’ in full flower, but look what’s happened now THREE more flower shoots

That’s a lovely surprise!!

@Trethew thats a lovely surprise.

I've been concerned about one of my Amaryllis which looks very much like your main stem - long and quite thin, not thick and compact like the others. So it's possibly due to the growth habit of a particular variety (rather than me doing something wrong).

I've supported mine with a trapezium of thin canes to make sure it doesn't flop as once it flowers it's going to need all the help it can get, as it will become very too heavy 🤞