Paul Humphreys rambles on....

Paul Humphreys rambles on....
News and Views

« Previous day (Jun 5, 2006) | Main | Next day (Jun 7, 2006) »

Tuesday June 06, 2006

Amarilus a Christmas flower on show in the early summer..

We have had this specimen of Amarilus for several years. For whatever reason it has only flowered once during Christmas. Sccne then it flowers at what seem like random times of the year. I suspect most people when they get these as presents set them up, watch them flower then throw them away. Despite the off timing of flowering they are dead easy to look after. After the flowers die off all you need to do is keep the bulb moist in its pot and in a cool place and shady place. Eventually perhaps sooner than a year later it will flower again. Ours has over the year produced baby plants that produce their own shoots near the existing bulb. When this happens I gently take the bulb out of the pot, tease the baby bulbs away from their parent and set them up in their own pot. You will have to wait several years before they are big enough to produce their own flower - but they would make a perfect gift! You should of course renew the compost every few years or so. The odd thing about this years flowering is the length of the stalk is really much shorter than usual.

( Jun 06 2006, 12:00:01 AM PDT ) Permalink