Amaryllis for Sanity or Flower Power in Winter

Amaryllis 'Amadeus'

This week, Chicagoland is taking a page from the tundra and dipping into perhaps historic lows in the negatives. So of course...my first amaryllis bloomed! The other three are dragging their little green feet. I don't really mind. January, I can tough out. It's February and March when I start to get twitchy. It looks like I will have weeks of huge tropical flowers to keep me happy and somewhat sane.

There's quite some complicated taxonomy in the background of my innocent flower. The botanic name for my amaryllis is Hippeastrum and it is native to South America. True Amaryllis are native to South Africa and are sometimes referred to as naked ladies as they first will produce foliage, then go dormant, and finally send up flower stalks. Linnaeus described Amaryllis first, then explorers discovered Hippeastrum and botanists started wrangling over which plant went where on the taxonimic tree all the way until 1987!

The Hippeastrum we call amaryllis and buy in quantities at Christmas has been a popular houseplants since the 1800s. It's easy to see why. Amaryllis are pretty low maintenance and they reward your neglect with amazing flowers for weeks and weeks!

I get my amaryllis to re-flower every year by forcing the bulbs into dormancy in the fall. I basically stop watering them for six weeks. My father goes to great lengths and tucks them in the basement where it's cool and dark. Mine seem to do fine with just restricting water and happily populate the south window in my study. I have had the occasional scale outbreak, but systemic houseplant insecticide does the trick nicely.

What flowers save your sanity in winter?