These are two amaryllis that were blooming before I went on my beach vacation June 10. People get all hung up on getting amaryllis to bloom for the holidays. They can be pretty spectacular is you let them “do their own thing” and bloom when they want to bloom.
And you don’t have to worry about “how do I get my amaryllis to bloom again?” Just put it into dormancy in the fall, and if it hasn’t come out by Memorial Day or so, bring the pots outside and begin watering (or whenever it gets reliably warm for you–for me, Memorial Day is usually when it’s warm enough to bring amaryllis outside).
Here are two more, one blooming and another just about to bloom. I found the bulbs when I brought out all my dormant pots. So I potted them up and now they’re about to bloom. Do I care that I didn’t have them for Christmas? Obviously not. They look great now too–almost better because they’re so unexpected.
And what is this dormancy? Right around Labor Day (when it begins to get cool for me) I turn all my pots on their sides for a week or 10 days. Why on their sides? So that they dry out and don’t get watered or rained on. Then, I bring the pots down to my basement and forget about them. If I think about it, I pull off the decaying leaves now and again. Periodically I check to see if any of the bulbs are breaking dormancy, but they rarely do.
Then, come next Memorial Day, I’ll bring them out and have more summer surprises!
Gardendaze 