Sunday, January 8, 2012

Pink flowers...green thumb?

At The Engineer's holiday party for work, we won one of the table centerpieces. It was an amaryllis in a vase. I know very little about plants, and I must say, it wasn't much to look at. It hadn't bloomed, and it looked something like this:



I have a "black thumb." I'm very good at killing plants. But when we were given the box that the centerpiece had come in, it showed photos of the blooms, and they looked really pretty. I figured it was worth a shot--I'd see if I could get this thing to bloom before committing unintentional planticide.

I went to the website listed on the box, and read a bit about caring for amaryllises (amarylli?). Turns out they need very little water--it's a lot easier to over-water than to under-water them. Perfect!

So I gave it a bit of water, and then let it sit. We went on vacation. We came home, and it was a lot taller. I was encouraged to see that it had grown (instead of groaning, as my plants tend to do.)

Then a couple of days later, the bud started to open. It took several days, but eventually we had a gorgeous, big bloom. And then there were two more blooms, several days later!

And I'm proud to show you our beautiful amaryllis, as of today....
Photobucket

I haven't killed it! And it's pretty!

What's next? Maybe a little herb garden? We'll see. For now, I'll just enjoy this proof that my thumb may indeed not be entirely black.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Awesome! It is beautiful, great job. I'm with you in the black thumb department. Most plants do not last long in my care.

Call Me Cate said...

Very nicely done - they're beautiful. I haven't done well with growing many things in the past except some herbs. The only inside plants we have are a couple of bamboo plants (Joe's) that have to be kept out of the reach of a certain plant-eating cat.

Mellodee said...

Hey, don't get cocky!! LOL! After all, you were out of town and it takes real talent to kill a plant long distance!

It sure is pretty though. :)

Amanda said...

Gorgeous! I think I may "borrow" your plant image for a painting. :)

SurvivorBlessing said...

They sure look beautiful!

Anonymous said...

After the flower dies, cut off the stalk and plant the bulb outdoors. You can enjoy these beautiful flowers every year without ANY work! I have some that I planted in my backyard over 10 yrs ago and they faithfully bloom every year. I haven't done anything to do them since the day I planted them!

~Suzanne