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The amaryllis is a plant that blooms beautifully in the winter, but the amaryllis also fades. What do you do with your amaryllis then? Many people throw away their amaryllis flower bulb and buy a new one in the fall. That is fine, but trying to keep your amaryllis is of course much more fun. It requires some dedication, but the result – your trusted amaryllis blooming again next winter – is worth it.
What you need to know to keep an amaryllis
An amaryllis blooms colorfully and magnificently, but after flowering only green remains. Sometimes the green is just emerging from the bulb when your amaryllis has finished flowering. To learn how to keep an amaryllis after flowering, it is useful to know where the amaryllis originally comes from.
Original habitat of the Amaryllis
The amaryllis originates from subtropical areas in South America. In the west of Brazil, Peru, the north of Chile, and Bolivia you can find most species of Amaryllises. Subtropical areas with very mild winter temperatures where the Amaryllis blooms in the spring. In these areas too, the winter is a period of lower temperatures and that is also important for an amaryllis to bloom. Just like the tulip, daffodil and hyacinth, the amaryllis needs a winter rest period before it blooms. As I said, the winters there are mild, a temperature of less than 15 degrees Celsius for a period of 8 weeks is sufficient to imitate the winter rest period of the amaryllis.
Amaryllis after flowering
So what you need to do to keep an amaryllis is to put it in a warm place with lots of light after flowering. A hobby greenhouse or conservatory is ideal, but it can also be in the garden in a place where it is in the sun as much as possible. When the night temperatures get colder at the end of September, beginning of October, you bring it back inside. It can stay in a greenhouse or conservatory if the temperature drops there too.
Your amaryllis will have grown a lot of leaves and you can just leave them there. Even in its original habitat in South America, the amaryllis is an evergreen; it has green leaves all year round.
Now, after the growth period in the summer, the amaryllis needs its winter rest period. Just like the amaryllis in South America, you should put it for about 8 weeks at a temperature of 10 to 15 degrees Celsius. Leave its green leaves on, this only benefits the plant. During this period your amaryllis will hardly grow and therefore need little water, but the green leaves will still evaporate water, so try to keep the soil in the pot a little moist.
How to get Amaryllis to bloom again
After this rest period, place the amaryllis back in the warmth, preferably at 20 degrees or more. When feeling this warmth, your amaryllis bulb will think that the winter rest period is over and spring has begun. The amaryllis will now continue to grow and bloom.
Even if you have done everything right to keep the amaryllis, it can still happen that an amaryllis does not bloom. In that case, the circumstances have not been favourable enough for the amaryllis to produce a flower. The summer was not warm enough, so that the amaryllis did not get strong enough or it was in a pot that was too small, so that it could not develop properly. Perhaps there was too little light or not the right nutrition in the soil... in any case, keep in mind that it is not always possible to get your amaryllis to bloom again.
What do I do with the faded flowers?
Sometimes you read that it is better to cut off the flower stems, but that is definitely not true. It does no harm if you do cut them off, but the flower stems also contain chlorophyll and provide photosynthesis that the amaryllis bulb benefits from. You can pinch off faded flowers just above the flower stem, but that is not really necessary. If you are lucky, beautiful seed buds can even grow on the flower stem. The flower stems will die off by themselves and when they have withered, you can remove them.
