If someone asked me how to grow an Amaryllis from a bulb last year, I
would have given the same confused/worried expression I had most of the
time in Algebra II class. You see, flowers and I have a love/hate
relationship. Don't get me wrong. I love getting a bunch of flowers in a
vase on my doorstep. But when it comes to growing anything from a bulb,
I get a tad panicky. I mean come on! The only bulb I know how to grow is
garlic. And you don't have to worry about garlic. Just leave it alone in
your pantry and it'll take off on its own.
However when I got a nice, big Red Lion Amaryllis bulb in the mail from
my boyfriend's mom for the holidays -- I was compelled to give it a try.
So what if I didn't know the first thing about planting this sucker? It
couldn't be THAT hard if some many people give these plants as gifts,
right?
 I repotted the bulb in a larger plastic pot, put it near a sunny window
in the kitchen and watered it when the soil was dry. After a few weeks,
nothing happened ? and of course I immediately began to believe it had
been damaged in shipping, or a mailman dropped it while it was in the
box, or maybe the postal X-ray machines (those exist, don't they?) had
destroyed it with mutant radiation.
After a month of worrying, a tip of a stalk began to poke out of the
soil and in a matter of a few days, it shot up like a rocket. Seriously.
The boys of the house snickered at its phallic form, but once that plant
bloomed, everyone was in awe. I think it may have been the first
blooming plant to exist in the house…except for the garlic growing in
the cupboard. In fact, it's February and the Amaryllis grew yet another
stalk that just started to bloom full of bright red flowers!
I'm also spending a lot of rainy days indoors, hunched over numerous
seed catalogs, otherwise referred to as "Plant Porn." I can understand
why it's called that. I kind of get worked up looking at all the lush
photos of tomatoes, hot peppers, cucumbers, basil, mint and so on. I
have lofty ambitions of building planter boxes, window boxes and of
course an elaborate greenhouse. I dream about picking award-winning
veggies and fruit, mass amounts of herbs and eye-dazzling flowers.
But of course, none of that will happen this year unless I manage to get
that deer fence up. None of the deer-proofing suggestions worked last
year and so I'm being mean and putting up a fence so they can't trample
my succulents and eat all my flowers. Even just last week, in the rain,
I spotted Bambi and the gang munching on the rest of the innocent Bird
of Paradise plant! And they never eat the weeds. Too bad I can't think
up Iron Chef recipes for the Scotch Broom and other nasty weeds that the
deer don't bother snacking on. Maybe I should email Martha Stewart for
some weed recipes. If you have any weed recipes, send them my way!
NEW PLANT PURCHASES SO FAR:
1. Weeping Fig Tree - I know this kind of plant is touchy and somewhat
fragile, but I thought I'd put in a sunny office room where it won't get
bumped into. Hopefully, all its leaves won't fall off because someone
looks at it the wrong way.
2. Misc. Dracaena - I got it super-cheap at the local Safeway grocery
store and couldn't resist. Plus these plants can take neglect and look
very Tiki tropical. It's in the living room, soaking up any sun that
peeks through the clouds.
3. Window Plant (Hawthornia tessellata) - Spiky and cool. I've wanted
one of these succulents for some time now. It's sitting in full sun in
my San Fran pad, so hopefully it'll survive before summer hits. I got
two of them. I would have gotten more, but of course it's not even
spring yet and I'm running out of plant room!
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