starting amaryllis – gaias-gift.com

Amaryllis 27 days

I have to move the Amaryllis out of the furnace room because I can’t lift the lights any higher. This location is set up to grow seedlings and only gives about a foot of head room. We made the ritual photo-taking into a small party. Even Mickey (Michel, Misha) joined the party. He was adopted from the Pat Brody Shelter in Lunenberg just about exactly six years ago now. Cannoli is his best bud.

Mickey and Cannolli — Mickey and Cannoli

Notice how the top blossom has a slight bend. One of the florescent bulbs was older than the other. It’s really important to turn the pots regularly.

Amaryllis, 20 days – New Growth

Happy dance, happy dance! The first identifiable new growth peeked up from the old stems about the middle of this week. I think the shoot on the front of this picture will be a blossom later on.

Life Lesson: Sometimes, at work, I feel like I’m not making any difference, like I’m just going through the motions. This reminds me that in complex systems, all that a person can do is work to create the right conditions. Often, there are things going on that are invisible, underground. When change happens, sometimes it seems abrupt; but that’s only because we just see the results, not all of the underlying processes that are at work.

Amaryllis Bulbs 13 days, with friends

So the center is still lifting. No sign of this year’s new growth. I’ve nervously looked for web sites that show pictures of early stages and found none. Is there something wrong? Oh dear, oh dear! (OK, so that’s a bit of an exaggeration.) But I decided that this use of blog space, so that you can speculate with me is a good thing. Beginners need to see something besides the end product. (Cannoli and Spumoni are 7 months old; they were adopted from Metrowest Animal Awareness Society.)

Cannoli checks the tag for more information

Spumoni and Cannolli check out Amaryllis Lemon Star

Planting plus 6 days

Amaryllis “Lemon Star”. Still looks pretty dead but the center of the old shoots is lifting. And I see green. These are in a spare bedroom, in front of the windows that get morning light. I turn the temps down to 60 at night so it’s not as warm as they are supposed to be. I may move a couple into the furnace roon, warmer but hardly any light, to see if I can bring them along.

Lemon Star about a week after planting — Lemon Star, planting plus six days

Amaryllis Bulbs

Potted up three Apple Blossoms and a Lemon Star, some of these will probably be Christmas gifts. The bulbs were so big that I had to get new, deeper pots. One of the web sites that I checked for directions said protect the roots. These came with big clumps of roots, which had been packed into paper bags and shipping boxes so I wasn’t sure that they meant all of these roots. But being a novice, I got pots deep enough to protect the roots.