2018 Amaryllis Bulb - Double Flowering Nymph

Like a lot of you guys, I have a whole bunch of Christmas traditions.  Sure, there's the Christmas Train and all the various foodstuffs, but there's also one that is gardening-related:  Planting an amaryllis bulb.  Here's a post showing the two bulbs I planted last year (one from Wannemaker's and one from Menards).  If you look at that post, you'll notice that the one from Menards - that cost $2.99 - never took off while the $15 version from Wannemakers shot up and bloomed right around Christmas Day. 

This year, I simplified things and decided to just do one of these and (obviously) went with what worked last year and bought the $15 version from Wannemakers.  You can see how they pack the bulbs above in a kind of foam carriage to protect the bulb while keeping it free from trapping moisture. 

When I was at the store recently, I couldn't remember what variety I bought last year, but remembered that I went with a double flowering version.  So, I poked around the various boxes and ended up selecting this Nymph bulb with a white flower that has red/pink highlights. 

We picked up a simple clay pot and some organic potting soil and after following the directions (planting the bulb with 1/3rd of it above the soil line), here's what we're dealing with heading into the holidays:

I'll keep an eye on it and hopefully track how well it does between now and Christmas. 

By mid-December last year, our bulb had shot up in a significant way, so I'll be using that as the benchmark for this season.