my amaryllis needs help

[Pussycat]

Hi- I bought a pre potted amaryllis bulb that said to keep the soil damp and keep it in the sun and that it would bloom sometime in Dec. Well, so far it is doing nothing, no green shoots, nothing, and I'm wondering if Ishould hold out or if it is a lost cause. I have no experience with these kinds of things. Thanks!

[Chanley]

Pussycat,

your bulb needs some cold before it will bloom, either stick it outside if it is cold (a nice frost in the night) or put it in the fridge. I have heard that it needs 10 weeks BUT you might get by with less, you could experiment. after it blooms from now on, put it outside.

[Pussycat]

thanks, I'll give it a shot.

[summermom]

BTW, you know how they seem to present the amaryllis as a one-time-only watch-it bloom-and-then-toss-it thing? Well, we've had ours for almost 4 years now! After it's bloomed and the plant starts looking about done for, dh trims it back almost to the dirt, and we keep it indoors and keep watering it, giving it plant food etc. Then in the summer we put it outside and it shoots up real big and has babies too! Then in the fall we bring it back in the house and it does its thing all over again! Last year, dh touched the pistil and the stamen together and it seems to have self pollinated or something, because they produced these big seeds. We are going to plant them this spring and see if anything happens. Every year the mother plant puts out these little baby plants next to it, so even if nothing happens with the seeds, we still have oiur amaryllis family growing! Have fun -- they are truly magnificent flowers!

[Pussycat]

Cool- thanks for the tip, summermom!