Sunday, December 22, 2013

amaryllis time begins


My amaryllis (Hippeastrum) suffered this year. The winds blew the leaves off, twice. One plant said "forget it" and refused to grow anymore after it was left with only 2 leaves. But I did give them spacious pots, new potting mix, and they did get a few months of sun, undisturbed in the sheltered courtyard. 'La Paz' is the first to bloom of my six plants. This year, the flowers are smaller than normal. It perches its flowers on a very tall stalk, five inch flowers on a 24 inch stem. The leaves tend to be at their most unattractive when the blooms appear, but I don't remove them. For me, the joy is in the growing. If you grow 'La Paz', don't expect the flowers to be this red. I had left my camera setting on "vivid" which made the flowers red. In real life, the flowers are red/orange. Sort of a burnt orange color. My H. papilio is up next, the stems elongating, and 'Ruby Star' is just beginning to show a bud. I've been bringing one pot in from the cool garage every week or two, to lengthen my bloom season. It is rare that I have time to take better photos than snapshots now. In my dream life I would spend my days gardening, and taking photos of the flowers.

2 comments:

  1. You do what I should have with Amaryllis...keep them alive to show off each winter! I like your take on a dream life, but add in lots of great food, some travel, and time to get great at golf, mountain biking, etc...

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    1. Oh yes, that's all assumed...well, except the golf. I'll go hiking instead!

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