Beyond holiday hotshot
Amaryllis is the bulb that keeps on giving — during the holidays when the large bulbs produce amazingly grand, showy flowers for indoor decorations, and then again in Southern California gardens where they thrive and flower year after year.
They are popular as preplanted kits, which are great gifts for gardeners and non-gardeners alike, since they are easy to grow. All they need is a pot, a bit of soil, water and sunlight, and if you start them now, they should bloom in time for the December holidays. Some people prefer to just buy the bulbs and pot them or plant them in the garden.
“They’re one of the easiest to grow of all plants,” said Jim Threadgill, owner of Easy To Grow Bulbs. “I have amaryllis that have been growing and flowering in my garden for 30 years. They thrive in dry and irrigated conditions. If you can’t grow amaryllis, you should look for some other hobby than gardening.”
Amaryllises are perennials native to South and Central America.
When Eduard Friedrich Poeppig first viewed the vibrant blooms on a Chilean mountain in 1828, he reputedly shouted with joy. When the species reached Europe, hybridizers in Holland created largerflowered versions. The botanical name is Amaryllis belladonna, commonly known as belladonna lily or naked lady. In warm regions they flourish and flower in August, then produce straplike leaves in fall.
Modern hybrids are popularly termed giant or royal Dutch amaryllis. Trumpet-shaped flowers include solid or bicolors of red, white, pink or peach. Hybridizers have created striped or multicolored flowers, some with green “throats.” Only certain amaryllis bulbs are most likely to flower in December. These bulbs, often field-grown in South Africa, Israel and some Asian countries, are dug, chilled in coolers and shipped to consumers. As bulbs respond to higher temperatures, they send up flower stalks and then bloom in four to six weeks, depending on the variety. Some begin to grow quickly, even while still in the packaged kits.
Bulbs grown in greenhouses in Holland are not chilled, and when they are shipped to the United States, they will usually bloom in approximately 12 weeks. Flowers usually appear after the holiday season, but this doesn’t matter to horticulturist Christian Curliss, bulb specialist with Colorblends, a leading wholesale bulb supplier.
“We prefer providing the largest size of amaryllis bulbs to our customers — bulbs the sizes of grapefruits — rather than the smaller sizes customarily used for holiday kits,” Curliss said. “We find that the larger the bulb, the more flower stalks and flowers each bulb produces, as many as three to four flower stalks with at least two large flowers on each stem.”
Colorblends doesn’t offer chilled bulbs, so theirs, grown in Holland, bloom in January, February or later. “They provide color after the holiday decorations have come down and people want colorful flowers at a time when not much is blooming indoors,” Curliss said.