Why I Oughta...

This is the seventh post in the series on this year's (welp...technically, I suppose they're *last* year's) amaryllis bulbs.  The last time we looked that them was right before Christmas on December 21st and 20th .   On the 20th, I showed how the Star of Holland was blooming in a spectacular fashion with four blooms on two stems.  Then on the 21st, I included a few photos showing the progress of the other three amaryllis for the season; Cherry Nymph, Apple Blossom and Red Lion . We went away for a couple days for the New Year and came home to the four pots you see at the top of this post.  On the far left is the Apple Blossom.  Has fully bloomed and is a beautiful white with some red/pink lines running through it and a light green center.  It is much more pale than the Star of Holland.  I also had just one stem come up on this bulb.   But, it also was the one that was timed the best.  It had it's first open bloom arrive and open fully on Christmas Eve.  N

Yesterday, I posted some photos of the four-bloom Star of Holland Christmas Amaryllis and how it has given us some really nice red and white color flowers in the week leading up to Christmas.  Today, you can see the other three bulbs. This is now the fifth post 1 on these bulbs as a group for the season.  Starting with  the original post in this year's (2019) series of Amaryllis bulbs  that shows off all four of the containers.  Then,  by the end of November this Star of Holland had gone far ahead of the other ones .  Once the bud emerged, I switched to a diluted alcohol/water mixture to try to stunt the height on the stalk(s). And, on December 11th of this year,  I shared photos of the Star of Holland about to unfurl and show off for the Christmas season . And yesterday (as I mentioned in the lede here), was the full-show of the Star of Holland . As for the other three bulbs, let's look at where they are in the photo at the top of the post. The tall stem in th

Almost two weeks after my last update and this Star of Holland Amaryllis bulb from Menards just keeps powering on.  It has put on a show that has lasted more than 10 days and we're now - I think - at peak flower. In the photo at the top of the post you can see a more "top-down" view of the flower that includes the oldest bloom on the back that is just starting to fade.  That first bloom is now complemented by these three blooms that have emerged just in time for Christmas.  There are two, distinct stalks that have emerged from the bulb that you can see in the photo below.  No real 'leafs' or other green shoots coming out of the bulb at this point. Here's the original post in this year's (2019) series of Amaryllis bulbs that shows off all four of the containers.   This Star of Holland bulb is on the far right of that original photo. Then, by the end of November this Star of Holland had gone far ahead of the other ones .  Once the bud emerged,

A few days ago, I posted about the Cherry Nymph Amaryllis bulb that I bought at Wannemaker's and planted in a pot to get the season started .  I mentioned in that post that we were going to try (again) a few smaller (and much cheaper) bulbs from Menards.  I found the receipt from Wannemaker's and the bulb that I bought there was $15.99 and after tax came in at $17.27.  The other ones that I bought at Menards are sold as a "gift box" and as you can see from the photo below are going for $5.49.  So...about 1/3rd of the price.  We bought three of them - one for each of the kids to do as a project.  These 'gift boxes' come with a plastic pot (with no drainage holes), what they call 'growing medium' (which I'm pretty sure is peat) and the bulb.  We bought one of each variety.  First is the Star of Holland.  Next is the Red Lion. And last is the Apple Blossom.  Here they are in their pots alongside the larger Cherry Nymph bulb.  E

This year's large Amaryllis bulb is this double-flowering Cherry Nymph bulb that I bought at Wannamaker's last weekend.  One year ago today, I posted about last year's Christmas Amaryllis getting started  but, that version ended up falling a little bit behind of schedule.  By mid-December, it was just starting to send up the trunk . And it didn't bloom for Christmas .  It eventually bloomed in January  and then we were treated to a second flower in March . I treated it with an 8% alcohol treatment last year and I think that worked to limit the height and make it leggy.  I wonder if that kept it from blooming on time? This bulb was $14.99 from Wannemaker's - as those are the ones that seem to work every year.  But, I'm also going back to the Menards Amaryllis to try those again - with the kids. As for this Cherry Nymph - below you can see the large bulb before I stuck it in the pot. And here is it planted in the new clay pot. I am planning on

It is March and we're still getting this big, beautiful bloom of double flowers from our Amaryllis bulb .  I planted this in the last week of November of 2018.   One week in, it showed no promise .  By the end of 2018, it still had not opened .  So, we missed our 'Christmas flower'.  Not the end of the world.  After giving it a constant drink of an alcohol mix, I was able to restrict it's height.  And it bloomed at the end of January .  Then, in February, I posted about how we were getting a second shaft coming from the bulb and that we were going to be getting a second set of flowers .  Today, I'm sharing a photo of this second bloom.  The variety is called a " Double Flowering Nymph ", but that notion of 'double flowering' has to do with the flowers in one bloom.  They have an inner and outer flower.  But for us?  We're getting a double, double flowering.  The second stalk is the first double.  The fact that they have rings of flowers i

These photos of our Christmas Amaryllis are a few days old, so let's call it mid-January in terms of the timing of the bloom.  Look at that beauty!  Double blooming variety that is still going strong for us.  But, this post isn't about the blooms.  It is about the height of the bulb stalk.  I placed a ruler in the pot and you can see in the photo below:  11.5" tall to the top of the bloom. And, just for record-keeping sake, here's a photo (below) of where I placed the bottom of the ruler:  at the top of the bulb - NOT at soil level. Amaryllis have a tendency to get long and leggy and with the size of those blooms, from time-to-time, they tip over because the stalk is too lean and long.  How does one solve that?  By poisoning the bulb.  Seriously.  I mentioned in my post in December that I'd been giving this bulb an 8% (approximately) blend of vodka and water .  In an attempt to keep the stalk from growing too tall. And, guess what?  It totally

Still no bloom .  But, plenty of progress as the bud is opening up and beginning to show how many flowers it is going to show off this January.  This went into a pot in Mid-November, so we're now sitting at seven weeks of growth.  Two or so in November.  Four in December.  And almost one in January this year.  This is the second year that I've bought the bulb at Wannemaker's annual Christmas Open House and I'm sitting at 50/50 in terms of timing it right for a Christmas bloom.  My instincts (largely based on this year) is that I should start these earlier - mostly so they'll be ready for the Babe's annual Birthday party - which takes place about a week before Christmas.  But, there isn't enough data.  One bulb:  six weeks to full bloom.  This bulb?  Likely eight weeks or more.  Year three will, I suppose, tilt the operation one way or the other once we see how long that one takes to bloom. 

The last time we checked-in on our Christmas Amaryllis, I was hopeful that we'd see a Christmas flower.  Alas, Christmas Day has come and gone and we're still staring at a bud with no flowers.  But, what is most interesting is that this is a 'short' bulb.  I've been - basically - p oisoning the bulb with a 8% dilution of alcohol in an attempt to keep it from getting too tall .  It appears to be working.  But that doesn't change the fact that our bulb isn't going to flower any time soon.   

Back in November, I posted photos of the Amaryllis bulb I planted (Double Flowering Nymph) and about a week in, I shared what was then the first sign of life emerging from the bulb.  Last year, I posted a photo of our bulbs on December 16th and remarked how I was hoping it would emerge in time for Christmas.  Turns out, it was *right.on.time*.  This year?  Different story.  The photo up top shows how one of the stems has begun to emerge, but it is just that:  barely emerging from the bulb.  The other one - a little bit further ahead is all bud and no stem.  Compare them to December 16th last year .  Maybe eight inches of height difference.  With nine days left before Christmas, I'm thinking this is more New Year's Amaryllis vs. Christmas flower.  That's the bad.  The good? It appears that we're going to get two stems with big buds on them as the second one continues to catch up with the first one.  You can see a better look at both of them in the photo below.

One week in with our 2018 edition of the amaryllis bulb and I'm happy to report that there's a little bit of action going on here.  Here's the post showing the bulb both before it went into the pot and right after .  If you look closely at this photo above, you'll notice two things:  First, the tiniest little green shoot emerging from the middle (top part of the bulb in this photo) and a good-sized 'gap' that has been created near the bottom of the bulb in this photo.  Thinking that the 'gap' that is being made is the result of some growth down below and just kind of *making room* for even more green shoots to emerge.  As a reminder, this is a double-flowering Nymph bulb that has white flowers with some red/pink accents.  I'll keep an eye on this, but I'm hoping that by mid-December, we'll have a nice-looking plant beginning to head skywards.  Here's the bulb from 2017 on December 16th to give you a sense for what should take pla

About 10 days before Christmas, our amaryllis looked like this .  But on Christmas day?  It had bloomed!  All four ways.  It was a spectacular flower and as luck would have it, the final of the four buds opened on Christmas day.   That's a shot of the white/red beauty above.  There were four of these double petal stars for us to enjoy for a few weeks.   You'll recall that this is the bulb that we picked up at Wannemakers and it was far outperforming the cheap one from Menards .  I'm really so pleased with how this - the $14 version one - worked out for us.  The Menards one ($3 one!), is still chugging along, but it is all green shoots and no stem so far. Next year, the Babe already has plans to get after these things at scale.  And by 'scale', we're talking about 4 or 5 of them.  She's thinking that in addition to us trying a couple different ones, we can work on a project together and be in a position of gifting them already planted around St. Ni