Patience is probably the greatest attribute a gardener can have and the accompanying. The illustration shows the rewards which came to me after sufficient patience with amaryllis.
In October 1956, a friend gave me an amaryllis bulb, dried and desiccated looking as they so often are during their dormancy. It was “guaranteed” to bloom, so I planted it and sat back to await results. I can say here and now that it was a long wait!
During Warm Months
All through that winter, the following spring, and the next summer, I cared for that bulb-like it was the only plant I had. I fed it regularly, watered it copiously, and rearranged our bedroom furniture to give it a place in the sun.
I plunged the pot outdoors, where it received daily attention, and before frosts came I brought it indoors. All this time it had done nothing but make fantastically large leaves. When I brought it indoors I found it had also made three offsets.
Ordinarily, I would have given the bulb a rest during early fall, but I hated to dry off the new bulbs, and I didn’t want to separate them, so I compromised by trimming off a few of the old leaves on the parent bulb, continuing to water and feed it regularly.
Warm Weather on Soil
Fall passed, and winter and spring were half over before a flower stalk finally emerged. But what a nice fat stalk it was, and it had four flowers atop it! This, I said to myself, was worth waiting for, and I regarded the plant with renewed affection.
Then much to my surprise, before the blossoms had fully opened, another bud stalk made its appearance. While this is by no means an unheard-of matter, you can imagine how much it startled me!
As soon as the weather warmed, I washed off most of the old soil and repotted the plant in fresh new soil. Then I put it all in the garden, and I fed and watered it regularly all summer. Before the summer was half over, two more flower stalks appeared, each having four blossoms.
This fall I will again cut off a few of the oldest leaves, will continue the watering and feeding, and will wait to see what I get next spring.
44659 by Katherine B. Walker