Amaryllis 'Aphrodite'

I decided to brighten my winter days by forcing some amaryllis bulbs again this year. The flowers are so big and spectacular, they can't help but bring some joy to dull and cold winter weather. Growers offer a huge selection of color now. Of course, color is still limited mostly to combinations of white, pink & red but, combinations of markings are almost limitless. And, getting the bulbs to bloom is so easy. Even someone without the slightest tinge of green on their thumb, can have success. You can purchase bulbs already potted or for the price of one potted bulb you can get two bare bulbs and pot them up yourself. Plant each bulb in a 6-7" pot in standard potting soil, place in a warm sunny window, water only when the top inch of soil feels dry, and in 8-10 weeks you will be enjoying big beautiful flowers. You don't even have to fertilize. There is plenty of food for producing the flowers stored in the bulb. There are many online sources but, I ordered this year from White Flower Farm . 'Aphrodite' is shown in the photo above. I really liked the way each petal has a sharp red line along the edge. The other variety I tried this year was 'Sweet Nymph' which was a nice solid pink. The one I grew last year was 'Dancing Queen'. I highly recommend any of these three. You can regrow the bulbs after flowering in hopes that they will flower again next winter but, for the price of the bulb, I would rather throw it away after the blooms are finished and try a different one nest season. I received both bulbs in late November and potted them up immediately. 'Sweet Nymph' started blooming at Christmas and 'Aphrodite' is blooming now in mid-January. It was nice they did not bloom at the same time, we had a longer period to enjoy them.