Why I Oughta...

I'm calling it:  our Amaryllis season lasted until February 23rd, 2022.  Early February showed this Lemon Star Amaryllis in full bloom and today shows the last flower in decline.   Our 2020/2021 blooms were last documented in late January 2021 .  The Star of Holland Amaryllis from 2019/2020 season was in FULL bloom in mid-February , so I'm thinking that season lasted longer than Feb 23rd.  And, our 2018/2019 season went the longest - with this full-double-bloomed flower all the way late on March 3rd, 2019 .  My plan is to leave this Lemon Star bulb to leaf-out this Winter/Spring indoors and then move it outside to the patio come Spring/Summer and attempt to keep it for next Christmas.  2022 to-do list should include bulb management and reuse, right? 

When you plant a series of Amaryllis bulbs in November , they tend to go off on different schedules.  At least that's been my experience.  And that's one of the big reasons that I like to plant a variety of bulbs - so we get blooms throughout Winter.  In my ideal outcome, I'd see blooms starting the week of Christmas.  Then, carrying all the way through January and parts of February.   This year?  That's exactly what we've seen.   Are all of them still blooming now - in February?  Nope.  Just one.  The Lemon Star .  It was the slowest starter.  But now?  It is the last one left and is getting its time in the spotlight (meaning...it is the only one on our kitchen counter right now).   These bulbs and some of the tending that I'm doing to our houseplants is a good bridge through the dark, cold Winter in terms of gardening.   Below, you can see the blooms on the shorter of the two stalks that eme...

The Lemon Star Amaryllis bulb - that we planted in early November - sure missed the Christmas (and even New Year's) window, but it is now the real star of the show.  After the other blooms are (now) past their peak, this one is currently putting on a lovely green party in the center of our countertop.   The flowers are pretty big, but there isn't a ton of them - and they're not double-bloomed.   The other Amaryllis' that we've grown over the years have always tended towards the red/pink/maroon-type.  The Bird picked this one out because it was different.  Pretty sure it was the only green one at Wannemaker's this year.  Would recommend it to anyone - looking to do something a little more unique.    Looking back at this post from January 5th , it appears that 9 days of difference shows the growth from a closed, pointy bud on top of the stalk to having flowers on all four sides open and in bloom. There's another, lower secondary stalk wit...