Amaryllis, the mutant one.

I got given this Amaryllis for Christmas. It looked like an onion, but was told it would grow a lot. I had never seen an Amaryllis before, so when I planted it and it very soon began growing I was excited to see the end result.

The leaves come out first, and a little bit later the stalks appear. Normally there's only one stalk, but we think it produced two because it was such a big bulb.

In order to avoid the pot from tipping, I filled the ornamental pot with grit. That way the base would be heavy and the height and weight of the flowers would not overpower the base. I have had no problems with the flower tipping over, in fact as it leaned backwards -I'm guessing looking for the sun- it ended up leaning on the windowsill.

The days leading up to the flowers to blossom is exciting. As it is such a big flower, you could see every step of the way.

Two days later

Seeing the flower blossom was amazing. I loved that it wasn't totally red, or white. The fact that it was speckled made it all the more special to me. The flowers lasted about 2 weeks and then shriveled up.

Today I cut the stalks right back down to the base. But you won't believe what I found! It's as if the bulb is a mutant. Two stalks is special, but having a third one appear??! It might just die without blooming but I'll keep you posted on that front.