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| Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center |
| ‘Blossom Peacock’ is a double-flowered midseason bloomer. |
For those wishing to take their intrigue with amaryllis (Hippeastrum) to the next level, here’s another way to keep a steady stream of these fabulously flamboyant flowers in bloom from week to week throughout the dreariest months of winter.
The strategy most people use now is to stagger the potting of these bulbs. Amaryllis, like other bulbs, are alive but essentially dormant until the set of circumstances arrive to call them to action. In the case of amaryllis, the factors are water and light. Pot up a few amaryllis every two weeks throughout late fall and early winter, add light and water, and you can have waves of amaryllis blooms until spring! | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center | | The flowers on cybister varieties are spider-shaped. |
But now, thanks to new information from the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center, there’s also another way to keep the color coming: Pot up all your bulbs at once and achieve the same staggered bloom times by harnessing the varying natural bloom times of different amaryllis varieties.
It may be surprising to learn that amaryllis varieties don’t all come to flower in the same time frame, but it’s true. Some varieties flower very quickly in around four to six weeks, some can take as long as nine or 12 weeks to flower, while still others fall in between at seven to 10 weeks. Though there are no official classifications, industry insiders refer to amaryllis as belonging to three groups: early, mid- and late flowering varieties. The trick is knowing how long each variety normally takes to come to flower. And with the help of the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center (NFBIC) in Danby, VT, figuring that out is a little easier. “Consider this the ‘inside skinny’ from the Dutch bulb experts,” Sally Ferguson, director of the NFBIC, says.
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