Normally, by this point in the winter, I have at least a couple of amaryllis going crazy next to my computer, and a couple of trios of paperwhites standing tall and displaying dozens of little flowers. This year, like just about everything else, I got a late start on the purchase and planting of the usual winter bulbs, and I've only just this week started the first set of those that need chilling doing their dormancy thing while those amaryllis are showing red and growing buds that should bloom soon...but not until the new year is a couple of days old at least, with the paperwhites about a week after that.
Today, at least, I finally was able to get to the garden center and pick up another bag of the good organic potting soil, so after I've finished my Top Comments duties, I'll be heading down to the basement to pot another couple of amaryllis and another round of bulbs that need chilling, but it's hard to pot up bulbs without any soil for them to live in. You might even call it counterproductive. Well, I would, at any rate, since I'm not as fond of paperwhites sprouting on wet pebbles as I am of them in soil. Just the way I am, I guess.
I'm in for a fairly short season of amaryllis this year. While I did pick up a nice group of bulbs, including a couple of my favorite varieties—all red ones, admittedly—they're all quite eager to sprout this year, and I'm guessing that the blooming season isn't going to last much past mid-February. I have one that's taking its time showing a bud stalk, so I'm going to hold off potting it for a few weeks at least, in the hopes of having at least one final beacon of red to last me through into March.
Read More
