Amaryllis belladonna blooming

Sue Haffner sueh@csufresno.edu
Mon, 14 Aug 2006 07:52:36 PDT
Ah, my favorite subject.
The Naked Ladies have been blooming here in the San
Joaquin Valley for the past week. They're doing their
thing in my front and back yards, both in sun and shade.
On August 5th, I was over on the coast, in the Salinas
area, and noted that flowers were appearing over there,
as well.
My bulbs get water in the summer, even though they're
dormant, as I have them planted everywhere in the yard.
(In fact, I've given away a carload of bulbs over the
past year.) We had an especially killer heat wave in
July, with temps up to 113. A lot of things in the garden
have a toasted look, but the Naked Ladies look just fine.

Sue Haffner
Clovis CA

----- Original Message -----
From: Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org>
Date: Monday, August 14, 2006 7:29 am
Subject: [pbs] Amaryllis belladonna blooming
To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org

> Dear All,
> 
> On this list we have often reported when the Amaryllis belladonna 
> start to 
> bloom in California. Perhaps it is a rite like the Lycoris 
> blooming in 
> other parts of the United States and the Crinum blooming for all 
> of you who 
> love Crinum. I've had a lot of bulbs bloom for me this summer and 
> if I have 
> time I'll write about some of them in another post, but the 
> blooming of 
> Amaryllis belladonna for those of us who haven't had rain since 
> May and 
> where the garden is a bit tired is a real thrill. We've speculated 
> what 
> makes them bloom before. I think the consensus was that they 
> needed a lot 
> of sunshine and occasional summer water to do well. At least the 
> hybrids 
> seem to need more water. This year I have Amaryllis belladonna 
> blooming 
> already in abundance and some plants I have had for years that 
> have never 
> bloomed are sending up spikes. Since many of my others don't bloom 
> until 
> much later I could have blooms for a long time. So why I ask is 
> this 
> happening. We did have late rain, but my garden has been very dry 
> this 
> summer. But we had an unusually warm summer with less fog so 
> perhaps it was 
> the extra heat or extra sun. Unfortunately since I'm attending the 
> IBSA 
> symposium I may miss some of this amazing display. How about the 
> rest of 
> you who grow this plant?
> 
> One of the ones that is going to bloom I must have had for maybe 
> 12 to 15 
> years without a bloom. It was originally in a container but never 
> bloomed 
> so I divided them and planted them out. This one eventually got 
> shaded by a 
> tree, but every year the leaves came back. It's still shaded by 
> that tree, 
> but this year it is going to bloom.
> 
> Mary Sue
> We're back to drippy fog the last few days after all that sunshine.
> 
> Mary Sue Ittner
> California's North Coast
> Wet mild winters with occasional frost
> Dry mild summers 
> 
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