A sweet and cheering gift from my old friend Kathryn Burlingham in the mail yesterday: two waxed amaryllis bulbs from Holland Bulb Farms in Milwaukee WI, plants that should bloom in the later winter here, promising spring and Easter.
(#1) The solid-white variety Grateful Heart; you can see the wax coating on the bulb and the attached metal ring on which the plant sits
(#2) The variety Gingerbread, white with red stripesWaxed amaryllises are a new thing for me, but apparently they’ve been around for some time (an invention of Dutch bulb growers, though I haven’t found any sources about the history of wax coating for flower bulbs).
Waxed amaryllis care. From the Bloomaker site on “Waxed Amaryllis » How do I care for my Waxed Amaryllis?”
Waxed Amaryllis bulbs do not require any water because the bulbs contain all the water and nutrients they need to flower.
Simply place them on a tabletop or any other flat surface in your home. Keep your Amaryllis in a well-lit room, but avoid direct sunlight. Rotate it every couple of days to help it grow straighter.
What to expect? No buds: blooms should be expected between 4 to 7 weeks. Budding: blooms should be expected in one week. Open buds: enjoy blooms for 3-4 weeks!
I’ve put them on my worktable, next to Spathy, my big spathyphyllum plant, facing towards the big windows on my patio. I feel fairly comfortable that this provides enough bright indirect light because Spathy’s flowers quickly turn from white to dark green, a change in spathyphyllums that my plant sources say happens only when they’re exposed to lots of light.
On hippeastrums, called amaryllises. From Wikipedia:
For many years, there has been confusion among botanists, as well as collectors and the general public, over the generic names Amaryllis and Hippeastrum; the former is a South African genus of plants, while the latter is a new world genus. However, the common name “amaryllis” has been used for Hippeastrum for years, especially for the [red] ornamental cultivars (sold as indoor flowering bulbs around November and December, for Christmas [AZ: and the white cultivars, sold with the red as indoor bulbs flowering around Easter]).
… Etymology: The name Hippeastrum was first given to the genus by [the early 19th-century British botanist William] Herbert, being derived from the Ancient Greek, meaning a “knight’s star” from ἱππεύς (hippeus, mounted knight [AZ: based on the Gk. hipp– ‘horse’ stem, seen in English hippodrome, hippogriff, and hippopotamus lit. ‘river horse’] and ἄστρον (astron, star), to describe the first recognized species, Hippeastrum reginae
Naming the cultivars. Like other waxed amaryllis sources (there are many), Holland Bulb Farms offers many cultivars, in Holland Bulb’s case, a dizzying array of around a hundred of them (many of them extremely hard to distinguish by looking at photographs). They all have to have their own names of course, so someone has had to pick names, lots and lots of names. A small sample of Holland Bulb’s named cultivars, in four color categories:
— red: Hope, Miracle, Rolling Meadows, Happiness, Noel Magic, Let Love Grow, My Best Bud, O Tannenbaum, Holiday Road, Cheer Up, Frosty and Friends, Santa’s Buddy, Jingle All the Way, Loving Heart, Tis the Season, Heart’s Delight, Warm Wishes, Love in the Air, Just for Fun, Red Lion, Grand Diva, Be My Valentine, Cupids Arrow, Be Mine, Hugs and Kisses [themes include Christmas and Valentine’s / love]
— white (like Grateful Heart in #1): Merry and Bright, Sparkle and Shine, Pristine Forest, Peace and Love, Warm Wishes, Star Light, Amore, Love Endures. Matterhorn, Sea Glass, Clear Days, Hippity Hoppity, High Flying Flag, All American, Royal Blooms, Patriotic, Festive Parade
— red with white stripes: Holiday Traditions, Rejoice, Yuletide, Minerva, Ambiance, Star of Holland
— white with red stripes (like Gingerbread in #2): Blooming Fields, Candy Cane, Lollipop, Frosted Sugar, Besties, Spring in Your Step, Spring Sunset, Flower Power, Red White & Bloom, Jelly Bean, Spirit of Spring, Old Glory, Honor [themes include spring and candy]
December 3, 2023 at 10:59 am |
One of my favorite plants (admittedly among dozens), and I have gone a bit nuts with them. Can the waxed ones be liberated and planted in the garden when done blooming? I had two potted ones last year, and one is sprouting anew in the window while the other is an experiment in outdoor survival. They would survive and bloom again on their own schedule in CA. I did get 4 new ones this year that might be meant as gifts for family, but they were shipped too late to be holiday flowers.
December 4, 2023 at 8:07 am |
Can they be liberated and planted? One of my sources says sure, just peel the wax off and treat the bulb like any amaryllis bulb; but another says that you can try it, but it’s tricky. My ability to do complex things with plants is now severely limited, so I’ll just abandon the bulbs.