Amaryllis are SO beautiful!  We just inherited one and it’s in full effect.  They’re very easy to take care of and while they normally bloom in Spring, they can be forced to bloom in time for Christmas and are very often associated with the holiday both as decorations and as gifts.

Native to South America and South Africa Amaryllis grow from a bulb and therefore can be regrown year after year.  All you need to do is allow it to bloom (hard right!) then, once the flowers are gone,  allow the green side shoots to grow and thrive throughout the summer.

The plant will need to rest for 8-12 weeks before blooming again so, if you’d like to time their blooming period for the Holidays, you’ll need to trim the leaves, take the bulb out of the soil, clean it off, and put in a cool, dark area by the first week of August.  The later you put your bulb to rest the later in the winter/spring it will bloom.

Then, take out the blub around the first week in Nov (or later depending on when you put the Amaryllis bulb to rest), plant root down into the compost again and put in a sunny window.

Water sparingly until the first shoots appear then you can give it a bit more water but generally, Amaryllis like it better on the dry side.  Around mid December you’ll see your Amaryllis come back to life; an especially welcome sight when not much else is blooming!

And remember, you can repeat this cycle again and again for beautiful blooms year after year!