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!

Hello @MarmiteCoriander I think we may have twins!!

my Amaryllis baby 2 is identical - I will take a photo tomorrow and post it up, it has literally only today burst forth with its bloom, it has been threatening for days . She has the same strawberries and cream leaves.

The one in the dining room has now flourished with 3 out of the 4 flowers now in bloom.

My experiment has worked well.

The bulb is a beautiful colour, lovely and plump with healthy shades of copper, purple and green around the top and the very small bud has now swelled considerably since last Sunday. There is also a newly formed bud around the other side.

So happy this Saturday morning 😊

So it's

1 Soak bulb in tepid camomile tea for 48 hours before planting. Transfer the tea into small houseplant watering can to use for a further 2 weeks, watering one a week but don't overwater

2 Use good quality compost and a reasonable sized pot which fully accommodates the root system.

3 After planting, moisten compost with some of the tea.

4 put the pot in a light but not overbright location. I don't put them in direct sunshine as they have a tendency to 'bolt' ie grow tall and leggy.

Bulb colours

How long is everyones flowers lasting?

The day after all 4 flowers had opened up- the first 2 started to droop and shrivel. I was hoping for more than 1 day with all of them open. Anything I'm doing wrong?

My big quadruple one upstairs has been looking good all week, and still seems to have a bit of life left, maybe until midweek if I'm lucky.

i try to keep the compost slightly moist to touch but not waterlogged, so the stem pulls up moisture to the flowers.

a drop of dilute baby bio gives it a bit of pep.

keep it out of direct sunlight if possible and away from radiator heat which dehydrates those delicate blooms.

The rest is all down to ♥️ 💜 ❤️

Typically my flowers last about a week once fully opened but they open at various stages. So for my last one, by the time the fourth one had opened the first had started to droop.

Nature has a wonderful way of creating "strategic stocks" the quadruple bulbs giving about 4 weeks for the price of one! And if there are two or more stems all the more for the pollinators to enjoy!

My red lion was a slow starter but is now looking fantastic. I copied someone else's tripod stick system up thread and this is the first year it hasn't toppled. It is so tall! And spectacular ❤

News Flash! My experiment with the camomile tea really does work.

the bulb is well and truly recovering and it has two lovely thick green buds which have been bursting forth since I replanted it. So happy.

Beautiful Red Lion you have there @Dahlia444

the tripod of canes it the most failsafe support you can give.

I'm very jealous mine is well and truly over, but great while it lasted.

Aftercare for Amaryllis bulbs is to cut the 'spent' blooms off at their attachment to the stem, leave to die back and keep the compost only very slightly moist, more on the dry side. Cut off all dead foliage. Store in a cool dark place and you may find it wakes up again in late summer.

Late joining this thread but need a bit of advice.

I've had five lovely flowers on my M&S amaryllis, but they're starting to fade now.

I have a second flower spike coming up alongside.

Should I cut back the first flowers and/or spike, to ensure the second one has a fair chance? Or just leave it? It's my first one so am nervous of doing the wrong thing!

@OliveHenry thats a beautiful Amaryllis- it looks like either Apple blossom or dancing Queen.

definitely snip off your spent blooms once they become shrivelled - you can see they are attached to the stem with a separate stalk for each bloom. Don't cut the actual stem off though. It will enable the strength and goodness to channel into the new blooms. A weak solution of Baby Bio is good for the bulb, once a week (don't make the compost saturated though) during its flowering season.

Still no flower here.

One of mine has just opened up properly today. Reduced bargains planted on boxing day. The other is a little way behind as in a cooler spot.

Thanks @daisychain01 !

Will get snipping, but carefully :-)

Thanks for your advice and for this thread op. I'm looking forward to seeing how mine get on over the summer.

And to all other posters, there have been some beautiful pictures Inc. the most recent.

Just wanted to share my picture of my apple blossom from a couple of years ago x

That's a beautiful Apple Blossom you have there @Sunshineandchill perfect proportions between the stem, flower and leaves. Stunning!

Thank you 😊 I was very lucky with that one!

Has anyone ever grown them from seeds? Of the 12 flower heads I had, only 1 is completely swollen like its going to make seeds. The others have shriveled and died off. I've read it could be 3-4 years before these seeds might produce a flower, and wondering if its worth it?

It's lovely but tiny. It's usually on a windowsill but moved it for the photo

Can't remember where it came from.