Already behind on Gardening

It's only February, and I am already behind on my gardening!

During the Spring and Summer, most of my time is focused on my outside plants. That means the only chance my indoor plants have, is if I take care of them in the "off" season of Winter.

Granted, I don't take care of my houseplants as much as I should, but I try to re-pot them or refresh their soil every couple years. I usually try to have pretty low maintenance houseplants with a couple of exceptions.

One of those exceptions is my amaryllis.  I have had it for about 5 or 6 years, and I think it has bloomed three times (see right for an old photo). For most of the year, you can treat it like any other houseplant, just making sure it is a little damp, but then around September it needs a rest.

Over the course of the past year, the long, elegant leaves have been absorbing sunlight and collecting energy. It uses some of that energy to grow more roots, but it also stores it in the bulb of the plant. Think of it like a battery.

In September you are supposed to stop watering. I know, it sounds wrong, but it's true. This is like pressing the "reset" button and it signals the plant to start hibernation mode. (That's right, your life is so hectic even your plants need a break!)

You will also want to move your pot down to the basement, or into a closet. They want it dark, cool (50-55 degrees), and dry.
Without water, those beautiful leaves will start to wilt and turn yellow. As they do, you can cut them off, leaving one or two inches above the bulb (which should be poking out of the soil).

Eight to ten weeks later, you are supposed to bring it out of the darkness and into the light! But for me: out of sight = out of mind. That's right, I neglected my plant. Even though I waited until November/December to start the hibernation, I didn't bring it upstairs until now (end of February), when I retrieved it to re-pot it.

  The result? It sprouted without me and I now have an albino amaryllis! Just kidding... No sun = no photosynthesis = no chlorophyll (which gives plants their green color). The color should come back as it  (slowly) gets more exposure to the sun. Do not place it from the dark, into the direct sun. That is like walking out of a movie theater in the middle of the day and being blinded!

So how did it grow without the sun? It used that stored up energy in the bulb (battery) to get started, and it already has two flower stalks!
(Update: as the leaves started greening up, they flopped outward and broke one of the flower stalks off. *sniff* I nearly cried.)

In the background you can see Dear Husband (DH) working on his computer, and Eva wandering around to help me. She always insists on sniffing everything (and sometimes licking things) to make sure I don't mess up!

I was going to pull out the bulb and put new soil in the pot, but now that it is already flourishing I don't want to disturb the roots too much and stress the plant. So instead I did my best to scoop out all the top soil (about 3-4 inches) and replace it with fresh potting soil. While it's not ideal, this should provide some new nutrients for a growing plant.



Thankfully, it looks like I saved it in time and it should bloom in a few weeks. I will try my best to remember to post pictures!