MySecretGarden

U.S.A., Washington State. USDA zone 8b. Sunset climate zone 5

Amaryllis Blooms Twice in 2 Months

Can I brag a bit? I want to show you my Amaryllis arrangement which is blooming for the second time in two months. The first blooms were shown here: Amaryllis. My Picture of the Day and this is the photo taken in January:

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Photo: January 2011

It is early March now, and this is what I have:

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Photo: March 2011

Two of the same three plants have blooms again. The plant in the middle has five huge blooms. Actually, they look even larger than those in January. The second bulb shows one unopened bud so far. The third bulb doesn't have buds yet.

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Photo: March 2011

Want to know my secret? How I forced them to bloom again? I won't share my secret with you. You wouldn't want to follow it. It's too complicated and time-consuming. It involves calculus calculations, chemistry and a bit of voodoo. Just kidding. I am just pulling your leg. Do you use this expression often 'You are pulling my leg"? No? Yes? For me, it is one of those expressions in American English that stands along with 'Raining cats and dogs', ' You are in the doghouse' and 'Couch potato'. Oops, I got carried away. Back to our Amaryllis. What is usually recommended? When amaryllis finishes blooming, they recommend the following: 1- cut it a couple of inches above the bulb; 2- do not remove leaves since they provide nourishment for the bulb; 3- place the bulb in a sunny window til the danger of frost has passed; 4- water when the soil dries; 5-move Amaryllis outside when temperatures are above freezing.

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Photo: March 2011

My secret of making these bulbs bloom a second time is: Leave it alone! I mean it. Do nothing. I left my container with three bulbs alone where it was standing all the time while blooming: on the breakfast table. Nothing special about that place, just no direct light. I didn't water the bulbs after the blooming ended. I cut down the stalks with the spent flowers. Several nice green leaves were so pretty, I enjoyed watching them. If all the leaves got yellow, I'd cut them down and kept the bulbs til spring when I would plant them in the garden and let them grow til fall. In fall, I'd follow the tips which you left in your comments here. Because the leaves looked so nice, I left the container alone. New leaves grew, and then I noticed bulbs! What fun! Actually, I recall one special thing I did: I was very excited with those three amaryllises and kept showing them to my family, praising them and asking: Aren't they beautiful? Aren't they gorgeous? I hope the third bulb will show a bud soon. In the picture below, it’s on the left.

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Photo: March 2nd, 2011

I just took another picture that shows the second bulb's flowers opened. They are smaller than the January blooms and almost twice smaller than the flowers on the middle bulb. But, it doesn't make them less special.

Photo: March 6th, 2011

So, what do you think: do I have bragging rights or is the consecutive blooming of an Amaryllis typical in your experience?

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Copyright 2011 TatyanaS

42 comments:

  1. The weather must be so conducive and they are so well fed that Amaryllis decided to present you twice!

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  2. Really pretty Tatyana. I agree with your advice too, 'leave them alone'. They look so pretty out in the garden.

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  3. Why not brag, they're beautiful and love the Dragon by the way.

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  4. I bet they appreciated your praise and decided to reward you! They are beautiful.

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  5. Lovely! Lovely! Tatyana! Gorgeous blooms and setting!!

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  6. You definitely have bragging rights, Tatyana! All that praise and your bulbs must want to please you. And I'm not pulling your leg either. LOL

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  7. Totally brag worthy! They are just beautiful, what a treat! Enjoy the second bloom Tatyana. Cheers Julia =)

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  8. Wow. Beautiful. I'm wanting to get new amaryllis bulbs this year and I'll be checking out your tips on how to take care of them.

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  9. You're a wizard with Amaryllis! Thanks for sharing all those info!

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  10. That's the type of amaryllis I need, one that just keeps going.

    Eileen

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  11. Hi, Tatyana! Thanks for the visit. Your Amaryllis are beautiful.

    Loretta

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  12. Yes you have bragging rights, that is maybe a world record :) I do the same with my amaryllis, nothing, after they bloom and one has a bud showing again. But not that soon, like yours.

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  13. Absolutely you deserve bragging rights! My Amaryllis never looked like that so I gave up on them. Yours are WOW!

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  14. Brag all you want! I particularly like how you have placed your red amaryllis next to the dragon. One can imagine fiery flames coming from the dragon's mouth!

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  15. My clearance rack amaryllis put up one very sickly bud, which I broke off before it got too pathetic, and now has giant leaves. Maybe it will bloom again next winter but now I'm just glad to have something green inside, even if it's just big leaves!

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  16. Your amaryllis can grow and bloom in such a small container. It looks healthy and vibrant. Perfect for the indoor garden too. We can't grow them well here. It is easier for us to grow tiger and hippy lilies.

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  17. That is so amazing that it bloomed twice! Awesome!

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  18. I realized amaryllis, when healthy before digging the bulbs can really produce more than 1 flower stalks/bulb. I dug also a few orange amaryllis last year after our dry season, to see them indoors. This is just a small experiment for me because we dont do that here. I also had 2 succession of flower stalks, although the 2nd one sprouted while the first was still there, unlike in your case. Other small bulbs however, flower only one and also delayed than the big bulbs. I wish i have the red, i still cant see it in nurseries here! By the way, our amaryllis are planted on the grounds outdoors and just left there untended, in fact neglected and sometimes discarded, because we had lots of them.

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  19. Those are stunners! They are not very happy in my garden. Could be the clay soil and the hot weather.

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  20. Yes, you do have bragging right! I have five amaryllis bulbs that bloomed in December, and now I planted them in the ground. They have nice leaves, but I don't see any bulbs showing. yours are gorgeous!

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  21. Girl, you have bragging rights and then some! Both sets of blooms are just gorgeous!

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  22. Fabulous! Plants that thrive on minimal attention, and reward you with such a long run of blooms...what more could you ask!?

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  23. Wow - didn't know Amaryllis would bloom twice-

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  24. Love it when 'complicated' techniques result in a second bloom. Congrats!

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  25. That is gorgeous! Yes, you can definitely brag. I have, on one or two occasions, had amaryllis that put up two flower stalks from the same bulb. But mostly I consider it cause for bragging when I get mine to bloom twice in two years! LOL. I bow to you, amaryllis queen. -Jean

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  26. They are stunningly gorgeous Tatyana!
    I'm all for leaving things alone - and it obviously worked for you in this case :)

    BTW, I've got serious dragon envy!

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  27. I give you bragging rights! Lovely, lovely blooms.

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  28. Of course you can brag girl! With luck such as this, I would be bragging like a crazy woman! I forgot my one long Amaryllis and left it outside in a pot over winter, sigh. She got really soggy when I found her. I brought her inside to warm up and am hoping she makes a come back some day…

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  29. You definately have bragging rights. You must have great luck! Do you have any advice for my orchid that didn't rebloom this year?

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  30. Thank you, my dear gardening friends! Your comments make me smile!
    Ramona, sorry, I can't give any advice for orchards - I don't have them.

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  31. Hello. I can not have a good look at these beautiful pictures. Amaryllis on the background of green garden look beautiful. I especially like the third photo from the top. Yours

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  32. I love the set of 3 outside. I grow them indoors so that i have something beautiful to enjoy during the winter (which is a bit long here in WI) Amaryllis are Very easy to grow- everywhere! We have had crates in our warehouse (no water no light) and all growing and blooming! Crazy- heh?

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  33. I too have been blessed with a very prolific amaryllis. It was clearance at Lowes, didn't bloom for the first couple years. I put it outside and my psycho dog chewed it up and it laid around in the yard for awhile before I found it and repotted in a planter inside the house sitting by a south window. Then it started shooting out green leaves and blooms every other month! It even has a new baby coming out of the pot. I leave it alone and just water it every couple of days and it rewards me profusely!

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  34. After my amaryllis bloomed in December, I cut off the stalk and put the container in the cold garage. When I was spring cleaning the garage, there is was, with a flower bud! I put it back in my kithen, and now am happlily enjoying 2 gorgeous blooms. I never knew it would bloom again.
    Will it bloom 3 times?????

    Pat C

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  35. I was pleasantly surprised to read of your Amaryllis re-blooming in a very short period of time.

    I have a rather old (around 11 years) bulb of the old red type. It bloomed for several years in late December to early January (planted in a pot with drainage, not removed from this pot or given any "resting" period).

    It typically bloomed with 4 large blooms each time and would then be "done" until the next year.

    Several years into this pattern, it failed to bloom in January. By May, it's bulb had become huge. It bloomed in June with 6 huge blooms (over 9 inches across per individual bloom) all on the same stem. As soon as these died down, it shot up another bloom stalk (July) and again bloomed with another 6 huge blooms. These died down and it again shot up another bloom stalk and bloomed again (August) with 4 very small undersized "stunted" blooms. By now, the bulb was substantially smaller in size.

    After this showing, the bulb did not bloom the next year, but bloomed the following year after, with two bloom stalks at the same time and 6 huge blooms on each stalk (that was this year 2011).

    Steve

    Any questions - steve@sheridanzoo.com

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  36. Thank you everyone! It looks like amaryllis can surprise us any time!
    I brought mine home in the fall, but it doesn't look like they'll have blooms soon.

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  37. I had my first Amaryllis to bloom this December. I followed the instructions about cutting off the dying flowers and then cutting back the stem to just above the bulb. The leaves started taking off as promised then this morning I noticed I have a bloom stalk developing. Wow! I'm glad to know that others have had the same experience. Looking forward to a second blooming!

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    1. Thank you for sharing! It's always great to learn about amaryllis performing great! All the best to you and your plants!

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  38. I just googled can an amaryllis have more than one flowering shoot and came across your post. Mine is the same colour as yours Tatyana and this year...year 4 or 5 it is in glorious bloom with 3 flowers and to my delight I have a second flowering bud coming up fast...I agree that less is more with amaryllis..I allow it to die back and ignore it for about 6 months then bring it back to a sunny window (not that we get a lot of sun in the UK) feed it and water as needed....SPECTACULAR....and it is in a tiny pot and seem to like it. 2 years ago I changed the soil and potted up a little bulblet which is still tiny but send a little green leaf up to my delight... Plants are soul food <3

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    1. Hi Tracy! It's wonderful! Your plant is a superhero! Thank you for telling us about your experience! I hope that little bulblet is having a great time! Happy Gardening!

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  39. My amaryllis is blooming for the second time this season. I didn't know they would bloom twice in a season, so I was delighted to see the bud appear. There are three more shoots and one appears to have a bud, also, although it is only about 3-4 inches tall. What a beautiful surprise! I will let you know if it actually blooms a third time.

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  40. It's probably not fair because I live on the Big Island in Hawaii, but my Amaryllis bulbs are starting to bloom again, for the 3rd time this year. First time was in February, again in early May, and now in early August. In April I had to move the tub to a new location, at which time I found a bunch of African snails burrowed in the tub. After killing the snails, I dug out the bulbs--amazingly none of them were chewed on--added some fresh soil and some Dry Crumbles (6-5-5) then replanted. Haven't done anything since except weed them. We've had a droughty summer, but a week ago we got 1 1/2 inches rain and that seemed to rejuvenate them. I came online to see if this experience is common, but only found your website from the NW.

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