Similar to what I received

A couple of Christmases ago, my grandma gave me a giant amaryllis bulb as a present. These are fun to grow because indoors even in the dead of winter they will bloom and give you a flowering treat. We watered it and that winter we had a nice big Amaryllis. I kept the plant (surprise, surprise) and continued to care for it, watering it, etc because I thought it would come back the next winter with another showy bloom. But it never did!

It just had these long green leaves that hung off the table. They aren’t ugly or anything, just not anything worth looking at. So I checked the internet how to rebloom an amaryllis flower. Apparently they are actually called a hippeastrum, but commonly called an amaryllis since it’s in the same family. They are tropical plants (yay! I can have them in Puerto Rico in the yard!), but they need a dry season. The dry season was what I wasn’t allowing it to have because I watered it like the other houseplants.

You can see it to the left shooting up like asparagus

So it said to put the plant somewhere dark and forget about it for about a month or two. I put it in the garage in mid March and told Britton I would take it out on tax day April 15-a day I was likely to remember.  I left it there, didn’t touch it or water it or anything for about 40 days or so. Then I (thankfully) remembered to take it out and gave it a good watering around April 15th. One of the two long leaves had died back yellow, so I cut it off, but the other one was still alive.

Just about to open -with a spider on it

I wasn’t sure if it would make it, but it was worth a shot. It started growing another leaf and then right before we left for Puerto Rico in mid May (about a month after I revived it), I noticed a shoot coming from the center. When we returned it was growing tall just like the rest of the jungled yard. It just kept climbing and climbing until finally it started to develop blooms and burst forth with huge blossoms.

So, now you know how to get an amaryllis to bloom again! Just treat it really badly for about a month and it will shower you with beauty. 🙂 You don’t have to do it in June, just plan out about two-three months before you want it to bloom. Then put it in your closet or somewhere that won’t freeze and forget about for about a month. Then pull it out, water it daily and it should bloom for you in about a month from that time. This plant really should be an Easter favorite instead of Christmas as it resurrects itself after you are sure it must be dead!

Awesome!

Super tall with a smooth stalk