In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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December 27, 2007

Keep that amaryllis blooming

What do you do with your amaryllis after it’s bloomed for Christmas? Toss it out?

Many gardeners do, but if you’d like to keep this year’s bulb blooming year after year, the email newsletter called “Dig This” has these tips:

Cut off the stem just above the bulb nose once the flower has finished blooming. Leave the plant on a sunny window sill or under plant lights.
Feed with a standard water-soluble houseplant fertilizer at half the recommended strength every two weeks.

Next summer, move the pot outdoors into a sunny spot and treat it like a container plant. Continue fertilizing until the middle of August. Don’t let the soil to dry out, but avoid keeping it soggy.

In fall, before there’s a chance of frost, bring the plant inside and place in a sunny window or under plant lights. The leaves may yellow and die off by late December. Keep the soil moist at all times. Do not let the soil dry out. The buds for the new flowers should appear in January or February.

Sometimes the bulbs will produce small offsets (young bulbs) you can pot up. It will take them several seasons to get big enough to flower.

It's a bit of work, but when the bulb produces those showy, spectacular flowers, and you can tell friends you've grown it for years, it will all seem worth the effort.

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