Booming & Blooming Amaryllis!

While I carry on with my daily routine, with travel thrown in from time to time, my houseplants may feel a bit neglected. I still water and “talk” to them, and have them listen to the soft sounds of my sewing machines and my varied Spotify playlists, sew I’d say they are well cared for for houseplants.

Several years ago, a good college friend sent me an amaryllis bulb before the fall holidays. While writing this blog post, I went back to my camera roll and saw she had sent me the bulb in November of 2013 - Thanks, Cathy! I carefully read the directions on how to care for this big bulb (never had one before!), and according to the pretty box it came in, it would be blooming by Christmas (it’s a red one). I was pumped to have color among the green-leaved other plants in its sphere.

For that first year, those stalks/stems shot up something fierce, like two feet in a few days. It was a sight to behold as I waited for the blooms to open. Not only that, but those stalks were heavy and about to fall over before a bloom ever surfaced. I tried propping them up with a couple of small dowels, but one fell over despite my efforts. I was bound and determined to see these blooms come alive, so I coddled them more than all the other plants on my pecan colored dining room credenza.

With colorful petals, thick stems, and glossy, structural leaves, amaryllises are considered exotic flowers that’ll instantly brighten up your home—no matter where you display them! Come to find out that these fascinating flowers grow between one and three feet tall with the right care. Well, I know they are getting the right care from me. Ha!

But what I am trying to get at is that these flowers were meant to bloom at Christmastime, along with the Christmas Cactus, which blooms whenever it wants to in our house. If I wait for nature to do its thing with bringing color into the mix of decorations with the amaryllis and cactus in December, it could be a long time. These plants are not unruly, just doing their thing on their own time. I love that they are like that.

For color, when I “need” it during the December holidays, I bring in the second string: store-bought and blooming red poinsettias. Another, Ha!

You know what, though? That lovely amaryllis sat dormant all fall. A month ago, the stalks started rising (April!). Not one, not two, but three stalks started bursting out and rising fast! Those blooms were ready to go in no time. Again, I had to jiggy-rig something to prop up the stalks and blooms ready to strut their stuff.

My efforts in scaffolding didn’t help. One stalk with a trumpet bloom broke in half. Ugh! The weight was too much for the poor flowers. So, we celebrated with cut stalks and blooming flowers at the end of April 2026.

Do I really care when these beauties bloom? Nope, I’m thankful that they bloom at all, and I get to witness their incredible journey of stems rising and their flowering trumpets blasting in a riot of color.

According to The Pioneer Woman, while an amaryllis might look fancy, it’s one of the easiest houseplants to grow. With the right conditions and nutrients, your bulbs will bloom in no time. One word of caution: Since a potted amaryllis is actively growing, your work simply involves nurturing it. Bare bulbs, on the other hand, need a little help getting started, but once yours is planted and sprouting, the care is all the same!

Talk about Manufacturing Sunshine! I've got indoor sunshine with beautiful amaryllis blooms!

Here is my April 2026 crop version of the fancy and easy-to-grow red amaryllis:

bSoleille!

Terri