Amaryllis Apple Blossom- In full bloom

As promised yesterday here are my pictures of my Amaryllis apple blossom in full bloom. It is just beautiful.  Don't really need to say anything else, I said it all yesterday.  Now both my amaryllis have flowered the challenge will be to try and save the bulbs for next year!

For a white flower there is a surprising amount of colour on the back

I think you'll agree this simply is a thing of utter beauty

Amaryllis Apple Blossom- from bulb to bud

Incase you didn't know, it cost four pounds

One Amaryllis would be enough for most people, but not me.  While my first amaryllis was doing its thing, flowering and snapping and wilting, the sorry tale of which can be found here, I had a sneaky second one quietly doing its thing on the kitchen windowsill.  You may think that I wouldn't be able to find anything else to say about my beloved amaryllis, but oh you would be wrong!  The difference between this one and my first is that this one has grown completely in my presence, rather than literally just popping into flower the moment I got it over my threshold.

It didn't live outside, at this time of year you have to go where the light is
notice the blunt cut.

I can't say I had great hopes for this bulb as it didn't start life in the most luxurious surroundings.  Contained in a cardboard box and stacked outside the door of a Wilkinsons, it felt like a bit of a punt even buying it, but for 4 pounds I felt it was worth the risk if there was a chance the bulb might flower anything like the picture on the box said it would.

See It just emerged from the bulb one day fully formed!

The reason I was a little doubtful of the bulbs viability was that the stem had been cut bluntly in the past so it just didn't look like it would do anything.  However shortly after being exposed to some light two little bright green fresh leaf tips poked out the old stem like little green rabbit ears.  Great I thought, here comes the huge stem that will produce the flower.  Or not.  Instead two whopping leaves grew a foot and a half high tall without so much of a sniff of a stem.  Leaves don't exactly have the backbone for that kind of height so a bit of scaffolding had to be installed on the form of a stick to prop them upright rather than draping all over the kitchen.

On its way up

I was understandably a little concerned at this point as it appeared I had bought a bulb that only produces leaves, and from a bulb that I don't think is exactly known for its leafiness, but then one day the top of a bud suddenly emerged from one of the crusty folds in the bulb quite separately to the leaves.  Its been quite fascinating watching this bud form, although I use them term 'form' loosely here.  Turns out the bud emerges from the bulb fully formed and already at its final size.  How weird is that?  Not just weird, how is that even possible?!  Its literally like a little hatch in the bulb suddenly opens one day and out trundles this gigantic bud.  I truly find it bizarre that this is even possible.  Then over a matter of just a few days the bud shot up on the usual meaty stem, so apart from the weirdly long leaves it was then at the same stage as the other one when I first bought it.

Unfortunately those silly leaves really do spoil the overall appearance of the plant
especially as they require propping up, again it didn't live here its a question of light

Having already extensively covered the rather fabulous manner in which these plants open, I am just going to skip to saying how beautiful this variety is.  My gamble paid off; amaryllis 'Apple Blossom' is even more lovely than my orange one was if thats possible, and it looks exactly like the one on the box!    How can one amaryllis possibly be more beautiful than another?  Well its apple blossom's beautiful colouring that has won me over.  Although predominantly white, the petals are ribbed with pink in the most delightful way.  But lets face it, its the shock of bright green that has really grabbed me.  Zingy!  The flowers aren't as big as the orange one but Im hoping to keep it until next year and then they will be bigger.  The flowers are beginning to fade now, I would say quicker than the last one, but seeing as it chose to snap off after like a week I can't really compare.  I photographed every last move this plant has made so rather than making this a post of epic proportions I have saved the pictures of it out in full bloom for tomorrow, so pop back to see it in its full glory. 

My amaryllis broke so I made a cut flower

I hate disappointment, which probably sounds odd because its not an emotion anybody exactly enjoys, but I really do not cope with it well.  The other day a very sad thing happened that brought with it considerable disappointment and really really spoilt my day.  I came home from work, and was in a really good mood, went into the living room while filling in the family on my day, and stopped short.  There, on the floor, by my dogwood christmas tree was my prized amaryllis that had been in full beautiful bloom and at absolute peak perfection.  Only it was in pieces.  If it was acceptable to cry over a plant I would have.  Anybody who read my previous amaryllis post will know just how besotted with it I was.  How I didn't end up carrying it around showing it to people I don't know.  Ok, I admit, I did do that a little.

You can see the major bend in the stem like an elbow that is not meant
to be there.  The flowers also took a beating getting to the floor so they are a little bruised

My beautifully big bud hanging, lifeless

The damage was, alas, severe.  The flowering stem had bent in two places and while still attached, was well beyond working functionality.  The second unopened bud, and the part that killed me the most, not to mention the amaryllis, had clean snapped through and was dangling by a fleshy thread.
To begin with we just couldn't understand how it had gone from being happy as larry on the sideboard to on the floor.  The blame was squarely placed on the cat getting up and barraging about on the sideboard like she does sometimes.  Luckily for it, before skinning commenced we realised that maybe it had, with four whopping flowers, become top heavy and collapsed.  Maybe this is why it needs a stem as thick as a baby's arm!  And still manages to fall over.  The situation was probably not helped by the mother rather excessively watering it.  It virtually had a bath.  The mixture of unstable roots and poor albeit beautiful design I feel did it in.  The motto of this story is stake amaryllis.
To begin with, apart from picking it up off the floor I just couldn't bare to deal with the wreckage.  But then the mother came home and that lady never lets a plant go without a fight.  Her weapon of choice?  Cello-tape.  She can perform miracles with the stuff.  Between us we held the flowering stem back upright and cello-taped copiously the bends to stabalise and provide support whilst also joining in the stick thats been holding up an orchid for some time.  This method has in the past saved a crooked hazel sapling after my father accidentally stomped on it once, so there is method behind the madness.  However, it did not save the flower which gently wilted and died over the next few days but ensured we got to enjoy it upright while it did.

Despite major reconstructive surgery the flowers rapidly wilted

The cello-tape joinery

The bud stem was in my opinion, done for.  But then I remembered reading that you could have amaryllis as cut flowers.  Straight onto the internet I went to check how to care for your cut flower.  It turns out that baby arm of a stem is completely hollow and filled with water.  The internet recommended that I never let my stem be empty of water, filling it up and wedging cotton wool in the end if it ever had to be taken out of water.  Great to know that when the broken bud has at this point spent a good few hours empty and dry.  Nevertheless we snapped that final fleshy tendril and stuck it in a vase.  I thought the bud may not be developed enough to come out but over the next few days it did indeed flower.  I was thrilled.  The four flowers never opened as wide as they did on the plant and where therefore not as impressive, definitely not helped by the rather short stem that had been left attached to the flower after the accident, but I loved them anyway.  Any kind of flowering was better than just throwing the bud away.

The second bud beginning to flower from its new location in a vase

So while we didn't completely manage to reverse disaster, we did salvage something from the wreckage, and learnt that my other amaryllis will need support and a firm stabalising pot to sit in to prevent this happening again.  I have read that amaryllis bulbs can be kept for future years but that feeding should start while the bulb is still flowering.  Clearly this happened slightly earlier than I was planning so I never actually managed to feed it but my task now is to read up on how to care for an amaryllis for the rest of the year while I wait my next showing.  

The second bud flowered to a certain extent but seemed to struggle with hoisting the flowers into the correct position and opening fully

Flowering amaryllis

The enormous bud split and the four buds like little aliens started making
 a break for freedom

Freshly released and already red but still tightly furled

My favourite plant discovery this winter without doubt is the amaryllis, I am in love.  I know they are not remotely subtle, which is usually my taste, but at this time of year its nice to have something bold and brash brightening up the room.  I bought one of my amaryllis at just the right time, with already a huge stem and a cracking bud atop it.  The bud immediately started to pop when I got it home.  The amaryllis flower may be an elegant and beautiful thing when its fully in bloom, but the way it unfurled from the bud was not pretty.  The whole process was much like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. Despite the bud being ginormous, it was still impressive how much flower was actually packed away into it.  Four rolled flowers struggled out of the one bud, then flopped out horizontally in opposite directions from each other.  Finally each flower unfurled and fully opened into its final lily-like form.  The whole process took several days.

The four individual flowers lowering like helicopter blades into their final positions

This is what I like to call the donkey shot, the first flower down starts to unfurl

Oh what a flower it is!  I knew I would be impressed, and it didn't disappoint.  Each flower is the size of a hand with a lovely open face and long stamen covered in bright yellow pollen contrasting with the vivid orange petals.  These stamen are really rather lovely, just like all lilies are (and yes I know that technically amaryllis are not actually lilies but they look it).  I looked up on wikipedia to make sure that what I wanted to call stamen actually were called that, and funnily enough the example given on wikipedia are amaryllis so they are obviously a great example of a good stamen.  Bold and brassy this plant most certainly is, demanding attention.

So excited about that second bud!

Look at those anthers!  They couldn't get any more pollen on them if
they tried

Although the colour of this amaryllis, which I unfortunately don't know the variety of, is undoubtably lovely in these dark dull days, I personally think it is the form that makes it so striking.  I don't know why an amaryllis feels the need to grow such a long and strapping stem but it gives the plant great structure, commanding attention.  The way the four flowers face away from each other helpfully gives it no bad side, and a lovely symmetry.  The genus name for these bulbs is Hippeastrum which comes from the greek words for 'knight' and 'star' and refers to the star shaped weapon knights used to wield which is such a cool thing to be named after.  The formation of the flowers reminds me of the loudspeakers on school sports pitches that I have seen in films,  Like little floral gramophones.
Having said that it is the form that is impressive there is something about the colour that I can't get my head around.  When put in the light, these orangey red petals are actually glittery.  Not pearlescent or iridescent as you can find in nature although I can't think of a flower that actually has either of these two qualities off the top of my head, but actually glittery with a golden yellow sparkle present right across the petals.

Now you can clearly see the little yellow glittery dots in this picture right?

So now the first flower is out my attention is turned to the second spike that is rapidly making progress. This plant literally grows before your very eyes and it wont be long until its out.  I can't help but think of triffids, not because this plant looks remotely menacing, but because of how fast it grows and how thick the stems are.  My other amaryllis is also making progress so I will update in due course.

My discovery of Amaryllis bulbs

That is some serious stemmage going on there! And a cute baby stem

I don't profess to be a horticultural expert, I get by, but my knowledge is on the whole better than most.   So when my work colleague complained that the plant she had bought to pep up her desk had died, I was able to tell her after a quick prod of the soil that she had over watered it.  So it saddens me that until very recently, ie two weeks ago, I was completely unaware of the existence of Amaryllis.  How, I don't know, because what a bulb!  I am mystified as to how it has escaped my notice up until now.
I only came across it when I was trawling the internet having discovered hyacinths can be black, and was investigating what colours other than the usual blue and insipid pastels there are.  Sorry hyacinths.  Somewhere was a picture of a mighty amaryllis; tall, statuesque, and faintly ridiculous.  Suddenly I had a need for one and bemoaned the fact that I thought I had missed my opportunity for this year.
It turns out, I had not.  We went out later that very same day, not specifically to get an Amaryllis, because that really would have been a bit obsessive to be like "I must have one!" and zoom straight out the door.  I actually went to get a new car headlight bulb and popped into Wilkinsons for a bargain.  Wilkinsons, if your not from round these parts, is a shop that sells household items like bleach and laundry bins for very reasonable prices usually.  I didn't find any bargains on this occasion, but there right by the entrance positioned almost as if they knew I was coming was a stand of amaryllis.  Like a pig for truffles I was straight in there, rifling through the prepackaged boxes for a colour I liked.  I went for blah, attracted by the hint of pink on white, and for four pounds was thrilled.
My amaryllis purchasing did not end there though.  After Wilkinsons we stopped off at my usual garden centre for pebbles and glass vases.  It was a complete bun fight in there, an offer was on and the hoardes had descended to buy their christmas baubles.  On a hunt for another pot for bulbs I found more amaryllis and thought in for a penny, in for a pound.  These were far more advanced with a full spike at least fifteen inches long, and a second spike on the way.
So now I have two which should come out in succession over the christmas period.  I actually can not wait and will be back with pictures of the huge flowers as soon as they are out!

The enormous flower head getting ready to burst!