How I have Flowers All Winter

When we moved to the Mid West from California 25 years ago, along with being away from family for the first time, I was also missing having flowers nearly year round in the garden. A few years ago I began forcing different bulbs indoors for myself in the Winter months. Trialing which ones I liked the best, and what did well indoors. In this experimentation I discovered 2 things. First, that I loved the art of creating indoor bulb gardens in the cold Winter months, and second, the bulbs that featured the size , beauty , and range of color, and success rates for growing indoors I was looking for were Amaryllis.

Not just a holiday flower, Amaryllis come in a wide range of colors including beautiful pinks, green, creams, whites, peachy tones, and multi colored blooms. These colors can take you from the Holidays right through to Easter if succession planted them every couple of weeks to stagger the blooms! Here are a few tips on successfully growing your amaryllis this Winter.

I start out with a good quality indoor potting mix and moisten before planting. Amaryllis bulbs have all of the wonderful energy they need packed right inside the bulb. They don’t need a lot of watering and they really don’t like wet feet.

The real secret to maximum bloomage is the bulb size itself. You want the largest size bulb you can find. The jumbo size bulbs are going to have more stalks with more flowers packed inside!

Although the bulbs are huge, Amaryllis don’t need a huge container to grow in. They actually like to be fairly snug in their pot with only about an inch or so of space around them . You can also plant several together snuggled in a larger container. When you plant the bulb, leave 1/3 to 1/2 of the top of the bulb exposed out of the soil.

Amaryllis can get tall and may need a little staking. I love to disguise my supports by using natural twigs etc from the garden to help when they get going. Amaryllis also make great cut flowers, so if they have several stalks that are blooming and are getting top heavy, cut one or two of the stalks and arrange them in a vase around the house for even more flowers. Another little tip to keep them on the shorter side is to water with one part vodka ( or any clear alcohol to 7 parts water) . Amaryllis don’t need a ton of water and definitely do not like wet feet. Test the soil to see if it is dry to the touch to avoid overwatering your bulb.

The fun part is decorating your Amaryllis bulb garden so that it is pretty to look at while you are waiting for it to get going. I love using natural elements with just a bit of sparkle around the holidays of course!

Amaryllis just need a warm sunny spot in your home to get going. Each variety will differ slightly in weeks to bloom , and it also depends on whether your bulbs are “Christmas forcing” usually from the Southern Hemisphere of Peru, South Africa, and Israel, or Dutch grown which usually bloom slightly later and are great for Valentines through Easter blooms.

I have found that their time to get going also depends on how warm or cool you keep your home in the winter. How sunny is the window you place it near? I can take 2 different bulbs of the same variety and place it 2 different areas of my home and get very different results. Experimentation can be fun though, especially if you have a few different varieties and want to stagger your flowers for longer bloom enjoyment!

Each season at Mac Gardner Flowers we create all new designs for our Winter Amaryllis Bulb Gardens and love designing them for you! You can check out this year’s designs by clicking the button below.

We also have DIY Bulb Garden Kits for you to do yourself. Click button below to learn more about Mac Gardner Flower’s DIY Bulb Gardens Kits.

Exploring all of the different Amaryllis varieties out there would take a life time and new ones come all the time. A couple of my tried and true favorites for after holiday blooms are Apple Blossom, and Lemon Star for soft colors that go with almost anything. Great pink varieties to liven up your Feb and March include Bolero, Double Sweet Nymph, and Dutch Belle.

Have fun, and happy gardening!

Xo

Shari