Cyrtanthus/Amaryllis blooms

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Tue, 12 Aug 2003 22:04:28 PDT
Dear All,

As I madly try to get ready to go to South Africa there are a few things 
about to bloom that I will be very disappointed to miss. I hover over them 
every day saying, "Please please bloom."

One of them is my Cyrtanthus elatus x montanus. Bill Dijk gave some of 
those little bulbs that Mark described on his plants a number of years ago 
and I planted them. I have since given quite a lot to our BX  as my plants 
grew big, but did not bloom and made baby bulbs like mad. So I asked this 
group for help. Alberto said plant in a much bigger pot and deeper. Jim 
Shields who was getting multiple bloom a year from his agreed and Ken Kehl 
said he had his outside. So I potted up in my biggest pot and planted them 
deeper and now there are not so many of those little bulbs on the surface. 
And I moved the pot outside in the late spring. And now there are five 
lovely flowers that just have to bloom before I leave. I love the outside 
color of them so at least I have that to enjoy.

I am sure our Cyrtanthus experts will answer Mark's question. Perhaps 
planting deeper in a big pot will help too. I am hoping we will discuss 
Cyrtanthus in detail this fall as a topic of a week if Paul Chapman finds 
the time during his vacation to do his introduction.

The Bessera bulbs I got from Diana's spring sale are going to bloom too, 
but I am not as hopeful about them opening before I leave. Yesterday my 
first Amaryllis belladonna hybrids opened. Only three, but I suppose others 
could appear later. The species has been out and about where I live, but 
the ones I have in my garden haven't bloomed for three years even though 
they used to. The bulbs are rather large and produce leaves. Perhaps it is 
too shady where they are. Do they need to be divided when they get that 
large to bloom properly?

Mary Sue


More information about the pbs mailing list