Amaryllis: A Star in Spring

Gardening in The Woodlands with Bob Dailey

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- There may be other plants that announce spring in The Woodlands, but none does so with such presence as the amaryllis. The fact that they achieve their regal beauty with ease and with little interference from the gardener makes them even more attractive. They are like self-reliant children capable of taking care of themselves year after year. A little help from the gardener which amounts to a light dusting of organic fertilizer in the bed (and scratched in to keep the armadillos out), and some watering when the weather is unusually dry, is about all they really need. Add fertilizer in March and June.

They don’t need extraordinarily rich soil: any good garden soil will do just fine. Make sure they have good drainage though. Although they do well in the sun, then don’t require a lot of sun. Dappled sunlight is fine, or an east-facing garden is good too, but try not to expose them to hot afternoon sun. I have found they do well in the shade.

The gardener can leave amaryllis alone for years, providing they are well established at first.

Use pine straw to mulch (the next big “in” thing in East Coast Gardening I’m told). Don’t be put off by that. Pine straw has a long life, tends to keep from compacting like other mulches and is readily available. Mulch keeps the soil at a more constant temperature, conserves moisture and reduces weeds. In winter, three to four inches of pine straw will be fine, helping to protect the bulbs from freezing. For the rest of the seasons two to three inches will be okay.

There are two ways to obtain amaryllis bulbs: you buy them or you get them from a neighbor, friend or relative who are separating them in the fall.

Store-bought amaryllis are dried and forced into dormancy for shipping. The problem is all this drying and forcing has tickled that little germination into blooming as soon as it finds a suitable place. In short, the plant has been confused artificially. If you buy bulbs and plant them in the garden, chances are they will send up their flower stalks in the winter and then be damaged (or even killed) by cold weather.

Most amaryllis bulbs eventually go into the garden, but don’t jump out into the beds and start laying in amaryllis as soon as you get home.

If you purchase amaryllis bulbs now, don’t put them into the ground. Put them into a pot filled with well-drained potting soil. Plant the bulb so that the neck (or nose, as some call it) sticks up above the soil in the pot.

Since amaryllis have strong stems and tend to be top heavy, use heavy clay pots. Put the pot where it can get eastern sun, and keep the soil moist. When the stalk emerges, turn the pot a half turn two or three times a week. This will keep the plant growing straight.

If planted in late October, early November, the plant will usually flower in December. The best way to do this is to plant several amaryllis bulbs a week. That way, you will have blooms all during the holidays.

In the spring, plant them in a prepared bed. Remember, though. They probably will not bloom this coming spring, but the following one.

Unlike other spring-flowering bulbs, the gardener doesn’t need to dig them up and store them in the fall. However, the bulbs grow quite large, and create “pups”, so it’s probably a good idea to divide them in the fall. Don’t throw away the pups. Instead, use them to plant more amaryllis.

Use your imagination in planting the new bulbs that have produced off your old bulbs. When planting any amaryllis, plant them with the “nose” or “neck” sticking up from the soil.

If you plant to give potted amaryllis for gifts, give them a copy of this article as well.

Little Known fact: The plant we call amaryllis is not really an amaryllis at all but a Hyppeastrum, and is native to the Americas. There are about 75 species of Hyppeastrum and more than 600 hybrids. Hyppeastrum is a native to the Americas, while true amaryllis is a native of south Africa.