Waxed Amaryllis Bulbs

Have you seen a waxed Amaryllis bulb before? I hadn't until last month when Jackson & Perkins contacted me and asked to send me something in the mail. When the box arrived I was surprised to find this indoor garden bulb. But I was even more surprised that the bulb was coated in wax.

After placing the bulb in a bright and warm location, the bulb sent out a scape and then showed signs of another emerging scape. Like a normal Amaryllis bulb the scape kept growing until it unfurled and the flower we are all familiar with, and associate with Christmas houseplants, appeared.

My bulb was waxed and painted silver, but on the Jackson & Perkins website you can see that they come in a lot of other decorative colors.

Caring for a waxed Amaryllis bulb

Do you have to plant a waxed Amaryllis? No. As you'll see at the website, the bulbs are held in decorative saucers. The bulbs are waxed so planting them in soil would not result in them sending out roots.

How do you water a waxed Amaryllis?

You don't water these bulbs. Unlike tulips and paperwhites that you may force indoors this time of year, this bulb doesn't require watering. Amaryllis bulbs that you buy have all of the energy they need to bloom one time stored in the bulb. It will bloom even if you don't water it. But because the roots have been removed and the basal plate waxed, there are no roots to absorb water.

After blooming Amaryllis care.

When your waxed bulb has finished blooming, you're suppose to toss it. That's right. It is considered a disposable plant, and requires not further care after it has finished blooming for you.

If you look at the Amaryllis label on my blog, you'll find instructions and tips for caring for a normal Amaryllis bulb. In particular, you should look at the post on pollinating and collecting seeds from your Amaryllis because it is a fun winter and indoor gardening project any gardener can do.

Have you seen these Amaryllis bulbs? Would you treat an Amaryllis like an annual that you can toss? Leave a comment below and you'll be entered into a random drawing for a gift card from Jackson & Perkins.

Layering Spring-Flowering Garden Bulbs

Moving bulbs and plants around the garden in the fall gives me an opportunity to correct one of the garden mistakes I committed early on. When I was planting bulbs I dug them into the ground without giving much thought to one day expanding the garden or rearranging plants. Learn from my mistake and get in the habit of layering spring-flowering garden bulbs today. Whether you have a small urban garden, or you're gardening on a balcony and want to plant bulbs in containers, you can stack bulbs deep to get more blooms.

Miniature Garden Bulbs for Small-Space Gardens

Every garden should have spring-blooming bulbs, and small space gardens are no exception. Fall is the perfect time to plant bulbs in the garden if you are looking for spring interest and color in your garden. Here are six miniature garden bulbs for small-space gardens that I recommend you make room for in your garden even if your garden is the size of a postage stamp.

Caring for Daffodils After Blooming

Along with crocus bulbs, daffodils are some of the easiest garden bulbs you can plant in your garden for a showy display of blooms every spring. From my experience in the garden caring for daffodils after blooming is not unlike caring for tulips after they are done blooming, with one exception: The foliage. Daffodil foliage can be a pain to deal with--especially if you have a small garden.

Amaryllis 'Limona'

I love green flowers, and I covet green Amaryllis blooms in particular. As you may be able to deduce by the name, Amaryllis 'Limona' is a green flowering bulb. The blooms emerge a lovely green with hint of yellow and white.  As the flowers mature they develop a pinkish red blush to them.

Amaryllis 'Fairy Tale'

Amaryllis 'Fairy Tale' is a wonderful miniature Amaryllis. Technically, they're Hippeastrum bulbs, but are commonly known as Amaryllis by people like me who don't want to use the correct name for these tender bulbs.

Allium christophii Star of Persia

I've planted several alliums in my garden, but I haven't added any new ornamental onion bulbs in a few years. This spring when I went into the garden to photograph another plant I was met with an allium I didn't plant. The mystery bloom belongs to Allium christophii, commonly known as Star of Persia.

Amaryllis cybister 'Chico'

I was gifted a bulb labeled as Amaryllis cybister ‘Chico’ this year. As I’ve mentioned before, amaryllis, the name I prefer, is technically incorrect. The proper name for an amaryllis bulb is Hippeastrum. So, the proper name of Amaryllis cybister ‘Chico’ is H. cybister ‘Chico.’ There is some debate online about whether or not H. cybister ‘Chico’ is a hybrid produced by the late Fred Meyer, or just a selected clone of the species H. cybister. Honestly, after reading various websites, forums and blogs-I have no idea.  Each source sways me in a different direction. What I do know is that it is the tiniest and most exotic of all the Hippeastrums I’ve ever grown myself.  I can understand why it is sometimes called a “Spider Amaryllis.”

Transplanting Oriental Lily Bulbs

A few years ago I planted two bags of Oriental lily bulbs in my garden after I found the bulbs on sale and couldn't pass up a discount. Over two years the bulbs established themselves, grew taller and produced more blooms per stem. One evening while the clumps where at their peak a stranger walking past the garden stopped and asked me what I had sprayed in the garden to get it to smell so good. Then a day later a family member asked me the same question. Both of them where referring to the scent emanating from the lily blooms that is downright enchanting on a humid summer day. When another family member asked me to help start a garden the first plant I thought to share where some of my Oriental lilies. So I set about transplanting Oriental lily bulbs from my garden to this new garden.

 

Caring For Tulips After Blooming

Once the tulips stop blooming in the garden caring for tulips after they bloom is rather simple. Aside from properly disposing of any tulips that may have diseases there's isn't much to do besides cleaning up the foliage and planning what to plant in their place for the summer.

Tulip Farm. during Holland Michigan's 'Tulip Time' Festival. 

Amaryllis 'Lemon Lime' Hippeastrum

Hippeastrum, say it out loud, Hippeastrum. What an ugly name for an Amaryllis, right? Hippeastrum is a genus in the Amaryllidaceae family. Depending on the source Hippeastrum means either "horseman's star," "knight's star" or "horse's Star". Why? Nobody really knows. What the experts, fancy gardeners and botanists know is that Amaryllis isn't the proper name for these bulbs, and yet we persist on using the name. Maybe it is because the word sounds as beautiful as the blooms look. 'Lemon Lime' is my latest Amaryllis to bloom and it looks remarkably like my 'Mont Blanc,' but greener. 'Lemon Lime' is one of the "green" hybrid Amaryllis bulbs, the coloration and shape of the bloom can vary from bulb to bulb.

How to Collect Allium Seeds

Alliums are among one of my favorite plants in the garden. You plant the bulbs in the fall and the following spring you're rewarded with showy flowers. These decorative members of the onion family can be added to the garden to provide height and interest. My appreciation of them is compounded by the fact that pollinators, like bees, love to visit their blooms in my garden. Purchasing them as mature flowering bulbs isn't really expensive with many big box garden centers offering them in boxed packages.

Voodoo Lily, Dracunculus vulgaris

A few year ago I traded plants with a gardener on the Internet and what I received were about three bulbs labeled "Voodoo Lily." Not really knowing much about them I planted them in the garden closest to the house to help protect and overwinter them in the garden. For about three years the foliage would get about two feet high in the shady part of the garden and then die down when it go really hot. The first year growing Voodoo Lily bulbs I thought they had died after surviving the winter.

Last fall I was on this garden design kick and had psyched myself up to sit down and create a plan for the garden and properly place plants. While digging up some other plants I came across the Voodoo Lily bulbs and decided to move them to the sunniest part of the garden.

Tulip Viruses

During the 17th century the Netherlands were taken over by what is called "Tulip mania." Shortly after being introduced tulips became a symbol of status and a way to showcase wealth publicly. Semper Augustus, with its red and white streaked petals, is famously remembered as being the most expensive tulip sold during the "Tulip mania." At the time it wasn't known that the spectacular colors in the petals of tulips were caused by a tulip virus. Tulip breaking virus was carried by the green peach aphid and while the virus caused beautiful flowers, it also caused weak bulbs that died slowly. Anna Pavord, author of Bulb, tells us of similar speculative bubble happening in England with snowdrops today. Not quite to the extent of "Tulip mania" but it is interesting to see that we're all more than happy to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Don't Be Afraid Of Color In The Garden

Do bold colors in the garden scare you? I have to admit I don't get very creative with the color choices in my garden. I like the safe colors and combinations. I guess I'm not much of a garden daredevil, preferring dark colors or the same colors everyone else around me has. Today I took a photo walk with Garden Faerie who was visiting Chicago for a few days. We walked the length of Grant Park taking in the garden sights and characters on the street. One of the places we visited was the Lurie Garden in Millennium Park and afterwards we headed down Michigan Avenue to see the public plantings. The contrast took a bit of getting used to.

If you've ever visited the Lurie Garden in the spring you may understand why the color scheme in Chicago's plantings was a bit jarring at first. We went from a cool and subdued color pallet to something that looked like it sprouted after someone sowed a bag of Skittles.

Spring Bulbs In The Garden

Let me beging by saying "Welcome" to all the new followers  & subscribers of the MrBrownThumb garden blog. 

Spring arrived in my garden a while back, but the only thing blooming then was a clump of daffodils so I decided to wait and make one post about the spring bulbs in my garden. I've posted before about cheap bulbs for your garden and how you can find them in places other than garden centers and nurseries. 

Allium bulgaricum bulb

Two years ago I purchased a pack of Allium bulgaricum bulbs that I planted in the garden. On another blog of mine I wrote my thoughts on Allium bulgaricum, a couple of days later I was cleaning out my room and found a bulb that had apparently fallen behind a cabinet. For two years the bulb survived without water, soil and light and is now starting to sprout. I'm amazed at how resilent this little bulb is and how much it wants to grow. It almost makes me rethink my opinion of this bulb in my garden, almost.

Tulip Black Parrot

I want to share a photo from my garden from last month. The picture is of tulip Black Parrot that I planted last fall. I purchased it a cool garden center here in Chicago called Sprout Home because the photo of the tulip on the package was stunning. The tulip bulbs were packaged by a garden wholesaler named VanBloem Gardens that sells plants and horticultural equipment across the U.S and Canada. While not as large and nuanced as the product pictured on the package makes the Black Parrot tulips look they are still pretty stunning. The ruffled petals start a wine-red and darken to an almost black and the petals open up semi- flat and horizontal to the stem and reach a height of about 20 inches. The Leaves of this bulb are a grayish-green color and look the same as any other tulip. In my garden I also have Flaming Parrot tulips and the flowers of Black Parrot are smaller and not as flamboyant by comparison.

Pineapple Lily Bulbs

Since the weather in Chicago was cooperating today I was doing some work in the garden. Mostly I was cleaning up some dead plants and pulling up my tender bulbs for winter storage. I checked on my Pineapple Lily bulbs to see how they were drying and realized that Pineapple Lily bulbs are really ugly. These ugly bulbs don't do the Pineapple Lily flower and seed pods justice. With such pretty flowers I'd expect Pineapple Lilies to have equally attractive bulbs but I guess a nice and fuzzy sheath like a Crocus corm or a shiny and papery skin like a Tulip is too much to ask for.

When I Collect Pineapple Lily Seeds

Today I was making a quick inspection of the garden and I noticed that some of my Pineapple Lily seed pods where ready for picking. I decided to make a quick post to show what a Pineapple Lily seed pod looks like before and after it is ready to release the seeds. The top photo of a Eucomis flower is an example of what it looks like before it ripens. Notice how nice plump and green it looks after it has been pollinated and is setting seeds. The bottom photograph of a flower had probably ripened yesterday or the day before. Notice the change in color- it is now a pale yellow-green and the pod looks a little deflated.