GARDENING : Trumpeting Praises of Holiday Amaryllis
Had it with holly? Poinsettias lost their poignancy?
Put the punch back into your holiday floral decor by experimenting with something new this year: a few amaryllis bulbs in Santa Claus red, snowball white or candy-cane stripe.
Forcing amaryllis may not be quite as easy as buying a foil-wrapped poinsettia plant already at its peak, but it comes close.
“We joke about amaryllis being like cake mixes,” says Cristin Fusano, color specialist at Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar. “Add water and light, and they go . It’s almost that easy.”
Five weeks from potting, more or less, she says, and the bulbs produce big, bold flowers, eight or nine inches across, trumpeting forth from tall, stately stalks, and perfect for gracing a holiday table or mantle spectacularly.
“They’re fabulous,” says Fusano. “Exotic and dramatic. Real knockouts.”
Of the two types of amaryllis bulbs on the market--Dutch and South African--the South African are your best bet, according to Brad Carter, museum scientist at the UC Irvine Arboretum. And don’t think he’s prejudiced because the Arboretum specializes in South African plants. Nurserymen generally agree.
“Dutch bulbs are on the same schedule as our spring bulbs,” Carter explains. “That means they were dug up before blooming last spring and held all this time. That’s hard on bulbs.”
“South African bulbs, on the other hand,” he says, “are from a different hemisphere and normally bloom during our winters. So they’ve only been held a few months. They’re raring to go.”
The following varieties, commonly found in nurseries this time of year, are all South African in origin:
* Basuto, solid blood-red
* Bright Leader, solid cherry-red
* Intokazi, solid fluorescent white
* Cocktail, bright red with a white center star
* Carnival, the reverse--white with red stripes.
There seem to be as many ways of forcing amaryllis bulbs as there are gardeners. Carter, for instance, uses up to 80% silica sand in his mixture and likes to grow his bulbs in full sun. Warren Gnas, color expert at Amling’s Nursery in Newport Beach, uses regular potting soil and prefers carrying on the entire forcing operation indoors in a sunny room.
Why the discrepancy? “I think it’s because amaryllis are such tolerant bulbs,” Gnas says. “They’ll grow almost regardless of what you do. Nearly everything works.”
One of Fusano’s duties in her former job as color specialist for Sherman Library and Gardens in Corona del Mar was forcing amaryllis bulbs for seasonal color at the garden every year. She has also been potting up bulbs for home decoration or holiday gifts for friends for years. She advises:
* Plant the bulbs five weeks before you want them to begin blooming. For blooms at Christmas, for instance, she advises having the bulbs potted by Nov. 10.
Though amaryllis bulbs can take as long as eight weeks to flower or race to bloom within three weeks, says Fusano, five weeks is most typical.
“If you have your heart set on using them as a centerpiece, though, I’d recommend staggering plantings at one week intervals to be on the safe side.”
* Use regular potting soil and a container with good drainage at least one gallon in size--six inches in diameter, seven inches deep, for example, she suggests. And plant the bulbs at a depth no more than half their length. That is, at least half the bulb should be above soil level.
* Include a bamboo stake in case the bulb produces flower stalks tall enough to need support. You can always remove the stake later if it doesn’t prove necessary, says Fusano, but it’s hard to add a stake when the plant’s already in bloom without injuring the bulb.
* Water thoroughly, and then let the soil dry out somewhat but not completely. The bulb will be just starting to put out fresh roots at this point and cannot absorb much water. Root rot at this stage is about the only thing that can go wrong in forcing amaryllis, says Fusano.
* Place the pots in a shady location, sheltered from rain.
* Once the bulb puts out a flower stalk six inches high, begin watering more liberally and gradually introduce the plant to more intense light. “But I would never put the pots in full sun unless I lived right on the coast,” advises Fusano. “Bright filtered light all day would be ideal.”
* Once the plant blooms, you could move it inside to enjoy. But if you leave it outdoors except for the few hours when you want it to be prominently displayed, the flowers will last much longer, Fusano says. “Central heating dries them out quickly.” Likewise, bring the plants indoors for protection when Santa Ana winds scorch through, she says. Moving the flowering plant back into shade at this time also prolongs the bloom period.
Amaryllis typically put out two flower stalks and produce two buds per stalk. Whether both stalks come up at once and whether buds open one at a time or all together will determine the length of time you have to enjoy the blooms, says Fusano. “It could all be over in two weeks. But four weeks, from first flower to finish, is more usual.”
OK, maybe forcing amaryllis is a little bit harder than buying a potted poinsettia. But the results, Fusano says, are worth it.
“Put three white amaryllis--I think the white ones are particularly pretty--in a good-looking rectangular pot in front of a mirror on the mantle piece or a hallway table, and you’ve got something really gorgeous.
“Amaryllis blooms all face in different directions, and a mirror doubles the effect. So instead of six blooms, it looks like the plant has produced twelve. It’s very dramatic,” she says.
Putting the potted plant in a handsome cachepot or bowl is another option, Fusano says. “Preferably one a little taller than the pot, so it holds up the foliage a bit.” Cover the topsoil with decorative pebbles or orchid seedling bark for a finished look, she adds.
After the plant has finished blooming, return it to bright light and begin fertilizing it regularly so that the bulb can replenish itself for next year’s blooms. Use a liquid fertilizer high in phosphorous and low in nitrogen at half the strength recommended on the label, or less, and continue feeding through August or September when the foliage will begin yellowing and drying out.
“If it hasn’t begun to die back by, say, Sept. 15, though” suggests Fusano, “withhold water completely to force it to go dormant.”
After a brief fall rest, the amaryllis bulbs will be ready to return to work. Relocate to a bigger pot--the bulbs will have increased in size--and begin watering again, she says, repeating the same process as the year before. By now, however, the bulbs will have acclimatized to local weather and will bloom in early spring, just as they would have in their native South Africa. Forcing, unfortunately, works only one year. For winter blooms the following year, buy new bulbs.
If your property is blessed with the quick-draining, sandy soil amaryllis grows in naturally, another option is transferring the bulbs directly to the garden immediately after they’ve stopped blooming and let them come up next year on their own schedule.
Or, try it anyway. Gnas at Amling’s transferred potted white amaryllis to his garden several years ago and--despite their being in clay and in the shade--contrary to all recommendations, they’ve thrived.
Not convinced you want to try this yourself? Then visit the UCI Arboretum or Sherman Library and Gardens in mid-December when both facilities will have potted amaryllis on display. The sight of a dozen pots bursting with crimson-red amaryllis trumpets, Fusano guarantees, blasts away any winter doldrums or holiday blues.
