Amaryllis for Gifts & Winter Blooms

Posted by Hilda M. Morrill

November 20, 2011

In today's fast-paced world the holidays seem to rush in, all decked out with colored lights and tinsel. The sacred and the secular are swirled together in a great commercial tide frothing with holiday gift ideas. What's often missing is the personal touch.

For many, the bane of the holiday season is in coming up with fun ideas for those important small thoughtful gifts designed to say "Thinking of you" or "Thank you."

What makes a special gift to bring to holiday parties? To give to teachers? To the hair stylist, work friend, or neighbor? It's always difficult to hit the right note at the right price, with the right dash of creativity, panache and pure pleasure.

Here's one gift idea that delivers a full wallop of "Wow!" and at very affordable prices.

"Potted amaryllises excel as small-but-stellar holiday gifts," says Sally Ferguson of the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center in Danby, VT. "These easy-to-grow winter-bloomers produce surprisingly exotic flowers, yet are still unknown to many people, even many flower sophisticates and gardeners. The bulb is huge, the flowers are huge. They grow and bloom for weeks on end, indoors in the dead of winter!"

Best of all, adds Ferguson, "Most people respond to this flamboyant blooming houseplant with disbelief, 'What is this?' You get to say: 'It's an amaryllis!' This happens so often that we named our amaryllis info sheet 'It's an Amaryllis!' Now, when someone gives a gift amaryllis, they can provide care tips, too."

Amaryllis can be purchased as potted plants already growing or as bare bulbs to be potted up at home and presented as ready-to-grow gifts. When buying potted amaryllis as gifts, choose young plants not ones already in full bloom.

When giving the bulbs, pot them up and present them un-sprouted. For all recipients, watching amaryllis grow is half the fun.

For gardeners, knowing that amaryllis bulbs can be kept from year to year to bloom in future seasons, even for decades, is another delicious thrill.

Enjoy!

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We thank Sally Ferguson and the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center for sharing this information with us. Visit www.bulb.com to find out more and even view a couple of videos on amaryllis tips and care.