Good job Margaret, you know how I love my amaryllis and I found this a very good article with lots of great advice.

Thank you Linda!

Good job, Margaret! Great advice for beginners and even for some of us who have been growing amaryllis for awhile.

One day several years ago I wondered if I could train amaryllis to bloom for me in the summer. After blooming on the windowsill and once frost no longer threatened, I unpotted them and set them out among perennials and shrubs in some of my garden beds. Since they had already bloomed during the winter, there were no blossoms that first season. When I dug them in the fall, I was amazed at how large and healthy the bulbs looked. What surprised me even more was the number of offsets the bulbs had produced. I cleaned the bulbs, let them dry, and then stored them over winter in our root cellar. The second season I planted the large bulbs out in the beds and potted up all the bulblets. All of the large bulbs bloomed nicely and by fall, the bulblets in the pots had grown rapidly. Some of them even bloomed the next season.


Amaryllis in one of my beds

Thanks for the lesson!

Thank you Larry.

That is great that you that you got them to bloom in the summer. I would like to try planting them in the garden but I am afraid it may be too cold in my zone as we have cool summer nights and we can get frost in late August.

Your welcome critter.

mcash70 said:we have cool summer nights and we can get frost in late August

I'm packing to move.

I know what the hot humid nights are like back east. .

Great article, Margaret. I had not remembered it being complicated to get Am's to re-bloom. Here in FL - and in much of the Southeast - they act just like spring bulbs up north. Go dormant in our cool, dry winters and jump up to bloom in March or April and yes, they multiply and make nice clumps eventually.

One thing I have noticed, though is that the foliage sometimes stays green on the plant all the way through the winter. So it's not necessary to withhold so much water that all the leaves die off. As long as it's cool enough, (but not freezing) the plants are dormant even if green leaves are hanging on.

We had a very long, warm fall, and now a cold, wet January so mine were late to go dormant, and are now being lazy about waking up. I have only one putting up a flower stem so far but am not worried, just have to be patient.

to hot humid nights AND days!

Elaine, if I lived in your zone for sure they would be planted in the garden, hope you get lots of blooms this summer.

Remember to leave the top 1/3 of the bulb above ground level.

Here is a bad picture of my dirty south facing window, fourth bloom stalk on lemon-lime (wow) a new one for me this year, and three getting ready to bloom.

Those three have lived in that window full time for the last three years, in the same pots. I water them approximately weekly, except for a couple weeks when they take a bit of a rest in about February. Typically, they bloom for me in March.
Technically, this is the wrong way to do it. But it does work very well for me.

Dirt, how nice that the new lemon-lime got a fourth bloom stalk, and that's great that your other plants are going to bloom. Don't forget to post photos on the Amaryllis/Hippeastrum forum.

dirtdorphins said:Technically, this is the wrong way to do it. But it does work very well for me.

Sometimes we stumble into things that work regardless of what the "right" way is. I like to let it be. NO WAY would I stop doing something that works for me to switch to what is "supposed" to work!

Excellent job Margaret.Thank you.

Thank you JT.

crittergarden said:
Sometimes we stumble into things that work regardless of what the "right" way is. I like to let it be. NO WAY would I stop doing something that works for me to switch to what is "supposed" to work!

Thanks critter,
I should add...as long as I can put up with big strappy-leafed houseplants that only bloom once a year occupying primo sun positions.
I may elect to discontinue that madness at some point, because I have a few others hogging up some other south facing windows too.
but then they bloom and receive another stay of execution...

Okay Margaret, I'll put 'em in what's blooming today when they do

First house modification indoors here is to ENLARGE my south facing windows!!

Dirt, do the leaves turn yellow or remain green all year?, and do you leave them in the south facing window during the hottest time of the day during the summer??