Amaryllis belladonna blooming
Mary Sue Ittner (Mon, 14 Aug 2006 07:28:34 PDT)

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