Amaryllis Bulb Flowers
The breeders have gone nuts with these amaryllis bulb flowers and have given us all colours and all sizes. There’s a plant for every discriminating gardener and house decorator. You may have to search the Net for some of these varieties as not all garden centers will carry this extensive a selection. But that’s half the fun!
Two Types
There are two distinct types coming on the market now – the “Christmas Flowering” and the “Winter Blooming”. Christmas flowering types are genetically from the Southern hemisphere and are predisposed to flower in our winter months (when it is summer there).Winter Blooming
Winter blooming amaryllis bulb flowers tend to be complex hybrids bred for different colors, bloom times, sizes and almost anything else a breeder could dream up. :-)In a practical sense, almost all amaryllis will bloom at Christmas but the “winter blooming” ones will bloom later (and better/easier) in the season should you wish to put off your winter doldrums by forcing these plants all winter.
In case, you do want to force them all winter, let me suggest you stagger your plantings every few weeks for as long as you have bulbs. Potting up one bulb every two weeks for December and January will ensure you have flowers from the end of January right though to March.
Reblooming
Instructions for growing (and reblooming) amaryllis bulb flowers can be found here.
Varieties of Winter Blooming Amaryllis To Look For
Looking for something interesting? The Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center suggests you consider:•‘Dancing Queen’ (double amaryllis), which offers an extravagant “petticoat” of ruffled red-and-white petals, up to 5 layers!
•‘Angelique’ (single amaryllis), for the ultimate blend of rose, pink and blush. Its coloration is remarkably like that of the tulip ‘Angelique’, the most popular tulip in America for more than ten years,
•‘Pizazz’ (a Christmas bloomer), in crisp red edged in white with a white throat, for vivid candy cane appeal,
•‘Nymphe’ (double), an ethereal beauty with white petals traced lightly in soft rose, for an especially elegant look.
•‘Charmeur’ (single), yummy warm-orange defined by a white stripe and chartreuse throat,
•‘Amourette’ (miniature), offering the smaller, more delicate “mini” shape in white flushed with apple-blossom pink,
•‘Pink Floyd’ (trumpet), very new, with a trumpet-shaped, rich pink blossom anchored by a bright green eye. Another fabulous trumpet look: ‘Amputo’ has pure white trumpet blossoms with a rich green throat,
•‘Nagano’ or ‘Rilona’ (singles), two luscious takes on salmon! ‘Nagano’ is a lovely warm salmon-pink with a white throat; ‘Rilona’ is pure soft peachy-salmon; both are gorgeous,
•‘Scarlet Baby’ (miniature), a flagrantly red amaryllis on a smaller scale. Best planted in multiples (3 to 5 bulbs per pot) for an abundance of stems “coming and going into bloom”, each stem topped by four or more perfectly shaped diminutive amaryllis blossoms,
•‘Ruby Meyer’ (cybister), an exotic flower with spidery petals in ruby-red traced with vivid chartreuse markings.
•‘Jewel’ (double), an especially sophisticated white amaryllis combining pointed outer petals, ruffled inner petals and a soft yellow throat in a smaller flower that is lightly fragrant too! .
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