A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Are You Tired of Amaryllis?





I have had the usual red, red and white, pink, white amaryllis for years. I decided to try something new this year. I bought a Cybister Amaryllis...kind of a spidery looking flower.I think that it resembles an orchid in some ways. I saved this bulb for late winter, when things in the plant world were a little boring. The first picture is La Paz before she was opened fully and the second is today. I have another one to show you tomorrow. I first saw this one on the Martha Stewart show, when they were showing newer varieties. I wanted to try one...

Here is some information from Dave's Garden.

In the 1960s and 1970s U.S. breeders such as John Doran, Alan Meerow and notably Fred Meyer were developing new hybrids from Hippeastrum cybister which occurs naturally in South America. These new varieties are known as spider amaryllis and by 2002 there were nine available. These have long, ribbon-like narrow petals and are unlike any other group of amaryllis hybrids. Even in bud these are very different looking, they open to reveal sometimes curly, spiky or frilly edged petals in fabulous colour combinations such as dark reds, lime green, brownish orange, deep pink, creamy white and burgundy. The flowers almost drip nectar and the leaves are almost evergreen on some of the varieties. They are just as easy to grow as the regular hybrids and with care will live for many years. Like other Amaryllis they can be grown outdoors in US zones 8 to 11.

What do you think about this newer variety? Do you like it? By the way, if you have several amaryllis...how do you display them? I've been trying to find a way to display them, so that they can be seen in all phases of growing. My thought is to put them on a shelf with lots of moss and having the pots almost covered with moss...so it looks like they are growing there with other plants mixed in. I hope to figure this out by next Christmas, when some of mine will rebloom and I can add a couple of new varieties.

Balisha

3 comments:

Diana LaMarre said...

I always like the artsy varieties, so I like this one. I don't have any so I can't offer any suggestions on display, but I think your idea with the moss sounds perfect!

Anonymous said...

I don't have any either but I like the way this one looks. Your idea sounds good to me. It does kind of look like a spider in some ways.

Barbee' said...

I like it, too. Too many of the same is boring even if pretty.