Amaryllis Blooms

I did it! I was finally able to get one of my Amaryllis bulbs to bloom. Well, I shouldn't be so dramatic about it because I've had the bulbs for less than 2 years, and I've never tried to get them to bloom before. I am very excited about this accomplishment because I've been working on it since November.

You see, waaaaaay back in November I read a post by a fellow garden blogger; Getting your amaryllis to rebloom, by Jodi DeLong. I've never tried to get my Amaryllis to bloom before because I figured it would just bloom on it's own time. Well, after reading Jodi's blog post, I discovered that getting it to bloom would require some help from me.

I didn't read the post until late November, so I got started a bit later than I should have. Normally it's around Christmas time that you'll see Amaryllis bulbs blooming. I figured my bulb might not bloom this year since I started so late. But I was determined to try anyway.

Amaryllis bulbs in pantry

After reading Jodi's post, I found that the crucial step I was missing was to give the bulb a rest period. One of her steps said to cut off all the foliage and keep the bulb in a cool, dark place for 6-8 weeks.

So I cut off all the foliage and left my bulb in the pantry for close to 8 weeks....

...and I anxiously waited, and waited...


Once that time past, I brought the pot out, gave it some water then put it in an East facing window. Jodi's post said it might take an additional 6-8 weeks before it would bloom. I was very anxious and it seemed to take FOREVER to see anything happen (I checked it almost every day).

After only 4 weeks, one of the bulbs started to put on new growth, I was giddy! But after a few days, it became clear that the new growth was just foliage. For some reason, I thought that Amaryllis bloomed before the foliage grew, so I figured I wouldn't get to see a bloom this year.

But then, a few weeks later, I noticed what appeared to be a new flower head growing out of one of the bulbs. Yippie!!! I wish I had a time lapse camera, but this slide show will have to do.

This one is labeled "Pink Stripe". (I got it in a trade so I'm not sure if it's labeled correctly)

Amaryllis Bloom

Thanks for the great advice Jodi!!!

P.S. When I thought my Amaryllis bulb wouldn't bloom, I ended up buying 3 more bulbs (on clearance!) that were well on their way to blooming. I'm addicted now!! I will share those blooms in another post soon, stay tuned!

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