The 2011-2012 Amaryllis Project Begins!

I've learned that my friends, Jewel & R.C., have given me an amaryllis bulb for Christmas.  Thank you!!

I haven't actually received it yet, because it's down at Mom & Dad's house, but we're getting together for Christmas Eve, so I'll get it then.  As I've done in years past, I'll post photos of it's progress here.

Stay tuned!

January 8 - Full Bloom!

All four blossoms are now open, a beautiful coral-red with a green-white stripe on the outside of the petals.

Still no signs of life from the 2007 and 2008 bulbs.

January 7

Two "trumpets" are now open, two nearly ready to burst open.

A closeup of one of the lovely blossoms.

January 6

All four blossoms are now flattened down, preparing to burst open.

January 5

It always amazes me how much progress an amaryllis bloom will make in just one day once it really starts going.

Still no change in the 2007 and 2008 bulbs yet, though.

The 2009 Project

My friends Jewel and R.C. gave me a new amaryllis bulb for Christmas. I had stupidly forgotten to mark my calendar of the correct date for replanting the 2007 bulb, so it didn't get planted until the 2009 bulb. *kicking self* At the same time, I replanted the bulb that Mom had from 2008. There are no signs of life yet from either the 2007 or the 2008 bulb, but it's still early. It will probably be at least 2 or 3 weeks before they pop up, so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I'll post some photos of this year's bulb. It's doing beautifully so far! Here's a picture I took on New Year's Day. The 2007 and 2008 bulb are planted in the large pot behind this year's plant.

Here's a closeup of the top of the plant:

Here's what the same plant looked like last night (January 3):

By this morning, it had opened up even more:

The 2008 Replanting

When I trimmed the growth to put my bulb to sleep after the 2007 blooming, I put it in a paper bag and stored it in the vegetable drawer of my refrigerator. I'd marked the replanting date on my calendar.

On October 29 I replanted it so that it would (hopefully) bloom during the Christmas holidays. As you can see, it didn't bloom this year, but it did grow some large, beautiful leaves. I'll put it to sleep again, mark the calendar for replanting day, and try again next year. :-)

Day Fifty-Three

All opened up now.....four glorious blossoms! And no one is more surprised than me. *LOL*

Day Forty-Six

Two of the blooms are fully open now.....two more are expected any time now!

Day Forty-Four

It's blooming! It's actually blooming! True, it's a bit lopsided because I forgot to turn it yesterday, but it's blooming all the same. *LOL*

Day Forty-Two

Ready to bloom!! I'd guesstimated the height of the plant to be about two feet. I measured it this morning, and it's 23-3/4" from the top of the soil to the top of the plant.

Day Forty-One

Growing, growing, GROWING! No stakes needed as yet....though it's grown tall, the plant is sturdy and standing on its own.

Day Thirty-Three

It looks like I need to find my plastic stakes I used for tomato plants a couple of summers ago!

Day Thirty

Once it popped its head out of the dirt, this little plant is making up for lost time!

Day Twenty-Seven

What a difference a week made! I can hardly believe this is the same plant that I was almost certain I'd killed a week ago! *LOL*

Day Twenty

According to the box, growing an amaryllis should be a simple task. It's been nearly three weeks since I planted the poor thing, and as you can see, I've not made much progress!

There's a little sign of life, though, so I'm still hopeful.

Day Three

This photo was snapped on December 27 with the plant sitting happily on a small table near a window which only gets direct light for a few minutes each day.

Day One

Today I received a lovely Christmas gift: a kit to grow an amaryllis. Though I love flowers, I am notoriously bad at growing them. However, the kit makes it look quite simple. I decided to blog my results. Keep your fingers crossed!

This box contained all the items needed for the amaryllis.....

.....a pot, the amaryllis bulb.......

....and this odd little hockey puck of growing medium.



Following the directions on the box, I placed the growing medium in the pot and added 2-1/4 cups of warm water.



Four minutes later, the hockey puck was taking on water and changing shape rapidly.



Six minutes later, the hockey puck was looking more like growing medium.



Nine short minutes later, the growing medium had absorbed nearly all the water and was easily crumbled.



I crumbled the medium and planted the amaryllis bulb. The pot is now on a table near a living room window. The wait begins.