Amaryllis

A close-up view of the amaryllis now in bloom in our dining room.

Back in October my friend, Juli, ordered a variety of bulbs from a catalog, and so we weren't sure what color this would be. The options were red, white, pink, or candy stripe. The goal was to have them bloom by Christmas. I did everything right (I thought) - but over the holidays, it was still nothing but a little green shoot sticking out about an inch above the pot. Suddenly, at the beginning of January, two flower stalks shot up over a foot high! I was so pleased to finally see the dramatic "Candy-Cane" striped blooms burst open last week. They will last for several weeks, and the other stalk right next to it is also ready to flower. The whole plant can be seen in the image below.

It's so nice to have a bright splash of summery color inside while the world is cold and blustery outside!