Amaryllis challenge 2018

[Grandad]

As I was the tortoise in the challenge last year I am going to re-awaken my two bulbs soon and see if I can keep up with you other 'Green Fingers'

As an aside, I did say a couple of weeks ago that I would take some cuttings from my geraniums. The plants are now quite old and past it really for cuttings but I took a dozen and it looks as if most will survive.


Fingers crossed

[Horus]

They are looking good Grandad you should have no problems there
My Amaryllis bulbs are still in the garage, not sure how well they will do (if anything) as the slugs gave the outsides a good munching so they are smaller than last year

[LovelyLadyLux]

Superstar got put in a HUGE pot outside and is still growing there. Will go out tomorrow (or when the rain stops) to see if he is still growing

[LovelyLadyLux]

OK I'm ACCEPTING the challenge again this year!

Was out today at the grocery store and they just unloaded a display of Amaryllis so I opted for "Minerva"



Got her home, out of the box, watered and planted. Just the tip of either a leaf or blossom showing



Sooooooooo I'm SET for the L4U 2018 Amaryllis challenge!!

All L4U WELCOME

[Grandad]

I will pot my bulbs up this morning then LLL. One is Minerva that did nothing last year so here's hoping. The other is Red Lion that was a slow starter but it got there in the end and it is still my avatar.

[Mad Dilys]

I'd better have another look at last year's bulbs and the photos, cos I would like as long a flowering time as possible. If I can stagger them I'd like to have a good show for Christmas. I think I've got 5 from last year - haven't seen any in the shops yet ………… I might be tempted by a new variety.


I think Minerva has done well for me before, I'll have to check my photos.

[LovelyLadyLux]

My "Minerva" is a new bulb for this year. I've never had any luck in keeping Amaryllis bulbs going, growing and getting them to re-flower. I've gotten leaves the following year but never another flower. I still do have "Superstar" outside in the garden and if it doesn't pour down rain today I might go out and see how it is doing and bring him in for the winter (but highly doubt there would be flowers).

"Minerva" is one of the standard old varieties but the bulb was big and starting to move so I figured she'd do.

On another garden note: I was outside yesterday and FOUND a Christmas cactus I'd put outside. I hid away under the stairs to rest during the summer so as to get flower buds which it did 'cept I guess the cold of the fall + rain turned it red & shriveling the leaves. All the water basically rotted off the roots so no big splashes of flowers from that plant this Christmas instead it got binned however one branch of it looked lovely bright green and chipper with even a flower bud so I separated that part off and potted up into a 4" pot. Definitely won't be a table center piece but should continue to grow.

Trivia - When I was working in the States one of the downtown Gov't buildings (I believe it was General Administration) has a HUGE and I mean HUGE Christmas cactus in the middle of the foyer (which was also huge high glass front). There was a plaque on this plant as it was well over 100 years old. I saw it once in full flower (red) and it was breathtaking. I was also so tempted to grab a cutting but never did. You could get them, if memory serves, from the State Greenhouse but the hours were never convenient for me to go there.

Right now the Christmas cactus I have in the bedroom is just loaded with flower buds (reddish pink) so it'll be coming out soon to sit on the dining table. The apricot one I bought last year (small in a 4" pot) has FOUR flower buds so far. Am hoping it'll grow large and flower as the flowers are a very different colour. I've never had much luck in getting a white Christmas cactus to grow and flower. Not sure why as I've kept pink and red ones going for years and years but maybe I'll try again this year.

The great E4U Amaryllis challenge is on and open to ALL of L4U as well!!!

[LovelyLadyLux]

Sun is out so I went out and dug up "Superstar" from last year. He/she is a bit worse the wear from slugs but has been growing outside all summer.

Not in too bad shape and I have now trimmed up a couple of the leaves.



Superstar sitting beside Minerva. The bulb of Superstar was huge last year but it is quite a bit smaller now.



Will see what results and I guess if nothing else me bringing this one in will keep it growing over the winter as I doubt the bulb would be cold hardy over winter.

[Horus]

The one on the right will certainly flower

[LovelyLadyLux]

@H - yeah the one on the right is the one I just bought so it'll be ok to flower out but the one I just brought in ??? I put it outside into the garden but it just kinda languished there for a while then did throw out some other leaves but it hasn't had a proper bulb "rest" and the actual bulb size just keeps getting smaller. It did have lots of root when I dug it up so will see. I'm going to put it downstairs and it'll get lots of sun there (or as much as we actually ever get here). If it grows through the winter I might take some more interest in it for Fall 2019. I've never ever gotten one to re-flower although over the years I've kept a few alive for a couple years.

[Mad Dilys]

Mmm perhaps I could be tempted to buy some new ones...………….

[Grandad]

I did pot my two yesterday......so I will see what happens this year.

[LovelyLadyLux]

@MD - If you get new ones in your local stores I'd be tempted.

Growing an Amaryllis every December is sort of my Christmas thing to do. They are super showy, something of a Christmas conversation piece so I always figure "go for it" and get the big splash of flower in the off-season vs waiting for an old one to re-bloom as I've never ever had an old one do much of anything.

[Horus]

OK so I have joined the challenge
Shopping today and I spotted the Amaryllis boxes at a fiver, so picked one up. They did not have a lot of choice between bright red and a light pink flower, but they had just a few that look to be a velvety plum red in colour so I chose one of those, it is called 'Queen Of Night' so we will get it planted and see how it goes. Not sure if I will bother with the ones from last year as the bulbs actually degraded, but I may just try potting one as an experiment.

[Horus]

I now have two of last years also potted up, so that is three on the go. I did have three bulbs in the garage, but on checking all three which to be honest were in pretty poor condition there was one that seemed very soft near the top, so I have left that one out. I do not know the names, but I am fairly sure that 'The Monster' from last year is not one of them, so one will probably be the nice red stripped one I had from Amazon and the other will be an old Tesco bulb. I have labelled them as M1 & M2 the 'M' being for mystery, both have good roots but the bulbs are damaged by slugs. M1 is of a reasonable size, but M2 is quite small which makes me think it is the old Amazon bulb. Poking about in the new pot 'Queen Of Night' the bulb looks quite large and it has signs of leaves or (I think) flower spikes starting to show, it will be interesting to see this years results, but I doubt if any of mine will have flowers by Christmas, interesting times ahead.

By the way, both of last years bulbs are only potted in ordinary peat based compost.

[LovelyLadyLux]

@H - I quite agree the bulbs degrade. I've tried often over the years to keep these going but I have a sense they're so hybridized as to be virtually impossible to get to grow again. My "Superstar" was the same. It is smaller than I started, didn't get a chance to 'rest' as I basically shoved it outside into the garden and left it. There are a few leaves on it and I cut off (trimmed back) the ones eaten by slugs. It is now downstairs and can grow there in decent light and conditions 'til I see how it goes but I'm not too sure it'll do anything. Will see and so long as it grows I'll continue to experiment with it but don't have high hopes.

I haven't heard of one called "Queen of the Night" but it sounds nice. The one I bought was "Minerva" which is quite a common one (red with white stripes). My choice was between "Apple Blossom" pink and/or "Red Lion" (red) or "Minerva" so I opted for her. She is already starting to move and has probably grown 1/4" out of the top of the bulb neck already.

[Horus]

LLL, I think one of my bulbs from last year may be 'Minerva' and by the way mine does not have a 'the' in it's name just "Queen of Night" and not Queen of the night, seems a bit more dramatic don't you think?

[LovelyLadyLux]

Actually Queen of Night does sound more exotic and dramatic

[LovelyLadyLux]

Nine days later from when I first potted Minerva this is her this morning:



The main flower part of the stalk is now almost fully out of the bulb and I can see the tip of a second flower stalk emerging as well.

I also brought the Christmas cactus out of the bedroom and it is now on the dining room table. It is growing quite well and each year I seem to be getting more and more flowers.



I love the flowers. They always remind me of orchids (WHICH are still SITTING there taking their own sweet time to do something!)



I have a small apricot Christmas cactus I bought last fall. It was heavily budded out last year when I bought it (which kinda makes me think it was forced so loses some oomph) and now has 4 buds. It is doing well and will be quite different if it can continue to grow larger.

[Horus]

Wow your stuff is doing really well and you will certainly have an open bloom by Christmas
I love that catus, I used to have a similar one myself many years ago, I must consider getting myself another one.

My own Amaryllis is starting to sprout and it looks like I have one flower bud and a leaf spike, but they are only maybe 3/4" in height so a long way to go yet, the other 2 pots (M1 & M2) show no signs yet.

Now I don't want to upset you, but my purple coloured Moth Orchid has just finished flowering after about 3 months, then straight away it produced another set of flower buds that are now starting to open again. And to make it even better 2 more of my other 3 Orchids have now got flower stems on them, so both will be in flower by Christmas.