Let’s begin with the obvious. Amaryllises are the best Christmas flowers. Don’t even try to argue. Poinsettias? Sure, they’re nice and colorful, but I’ll shoot that one down by pointing out that they’re not even flowers. Those red and white “flowers” are actually bracts — modified leaves. So, bzzz, disqualified. Paperwhites? Obviously, I’m into them. But ultimately, even though they deliver a profusion of blooms, they’re tiny flowers. Amaryllis bulbs offer a similar bounty (I’m counting eight to twelve flowers from each of my bulbs right now), but the flowers are HUGE. They’re flashy. They’re extravagant. They’re like the Rockettes of Christmas flowers. You think they might be too much, but then you see them, and all the rhinestones and razmataz are 100% irresistible. Every time I look over at my big red amaryllis flowers, Christmas blossoms in my heart. I feel roughly the same way about them that I felt about Santa at age 7.
Okay, now that we’ve got that settled, let’s get to that Hot Tip. I found myself chatting with an awesome floral designer at a Christmas party last week, and given my feelings for amaryllises, you perhaps won’t be surprised to hear that he and I somehow ended up discussing them. Amaryllises are so easy to care for that I’ve never done anything but put the bulb in a pot and water every few days, maybe add a small stake if the flowers get really tall. I thought that was all there was to it.
Right, but also wrong. Check out that photo up top. See all that yellow pollen? Look real close and you’ll see that it’s starting to fall off onto the petals of the flower. Turns out, once the pollen falls on the petals, it sticks. If you want to keep your amaryllis flowers pristine — and the darker the flowers, the more noticeable the yellow pollen — you need to remove the anthers (that’s the little pollen pom pom part) before the powder drops.
Like so:
All you need to do is carefully run a paper towel over the filaments supporting the anthers, gently pulling the pom poms away, and just like that, no more yellow powder.
Thanks for the tip, Michael! And (ahem) sorry I didn’t let you talk to anyone else all night.
Tags: amaryllis, Christmas
My paperwhites are about ready to bloom, but the amaryllis hasn’t even really begun to grow yet. I see a little green starting to poke out of the bulb but otherwise nothing. Hopefully I will have flowers before too long.
Do the amaryllis bloom again, after they bloom the first time
Hi Jean, yes, they can bloom again, but it takes a lot of TLC. Basically a whole year of care for another bloom. Unless you’re really devoted to the idea, it’s much easier to enjoy them in all their glory for the season and then get a new batch of bulbs next year.