Amaryllis problem #2

My second amaryllis is blooming beautifully now. But as you can see, it has the same type of problem that this one had, although not as severe.

Interestingly, this rust problem didn't show up on the leaves at all, and it certainly didn't affect the blooms!

Aren't they just gorgeous?

Here's what the flower stalk looks like at the base, though. The flower stalks are always hollow, but this one is split for several inches. It almost looks like it was burned.

I was playing with some photo editing, and here's what I ended up with. It looks like it's red hot inside that stalk! :)

My third amaryllis still has no sign of a flower stalk, so I assume it's not going to bloom this year. The first one that had the deformed stalk has another stalk shooting up, and it looks perfectly fine with no sign of rust or deformity at all!

Amaryllis problem

I was late bringing my amaryllis bulbs out this year. Procrastination, out-of-sight/out-of-mind, and laziness were the main reasons. Laziness in that I figured the later I brought them out, the less time I'd have to be watering them in the house before setting them outside for the summer. So they're just now beginning to bloom. 

This is what they're supposed to look like:

(March 2, 2010 - Courtney, age 3)

However this one, my oldest one that I've had for 33 years (!), has a definite problem this year, which it's never had before. The flower stalk is not only very short, but it's quite deformed.

It as this rust-colored stuff on the stalk, and the stalk has not only split open lengthwise, it has also split the other way, too. See where it looks like there's a big chunk out of it? It just split apart right there.

Something kept it from growing properly. I've only done a quick search for "amaryllis rust" which told me that it could be a fungus or mites. I need to investigate further.

Whatever the problem is, it didn't stop it from blooming!

It was a little hard to find a place to set it for picture-taking.

You can see there's a new flower stalk coming by the leaves. I wonder if that'll be affected, too.

One of my other bulbs is affected, too, but not as badly. It'll be blooming soon. My third one looks like it won't be blooming at all. It might be because it has a "baby" bulb attached to it. It's been there a couple of years or more, so maybe that means it's time to divide them. I've read that you're supposed to leave the new bulbs attached for 4 years before separating them.

They've had little rusty spots on them for many years, but there has never been any noticeable damage until this year. I wonder if it was because I brought them out so late (I doubt it), or if it had something to do with the weather last summer, or what. If anybody has any great information for me, please share!

Update: For anyone googling about this problem, I thought I'd let you know that I did nothing to treat it, and I am happy to report that the following year there was absolutely no sign of any of the rust problem or splitting on any of my plants. See this post.

Winter views

All of these photos were taken within inches of each other.

Outside the window:

Did you notice how it's sitting right at the very tip of that little branch?

Yeah, they're just crows.

I like this inside-the-window view much better:

My hibiscus is blooming nicely, even if it's a bit straggly. It does brighten a winter day!

Hibiscus, etc.

How is my hibiscus faring this winter, you ask? Okay, nobody asked, but I'm sure you've been wondering. You have, haven't you? In the midst of all your Christmas preparations, surely you've been wondering. Okay, not. But I'm gonna tell you anyway. :)

Here it is, relegated to the bedroom Courtney uses when she stays here, which used to be her daddy's bedroom (and he still claims it as his when he's here). The room is on the south, so it gets plenty of sunshine, but it's not heated much. The hibiscus is looking kind of scraggly. Josie was pretty hard on it last winter, then the heat of the summer was a bit much for it, too. Not to mention that it needs to be in a bigger pot (please don't mention that!).

But it's valiantly blooming! I took these pics yesterday. The nice thing about the cool room is that the flowers last longer... maybe 2 or 3 days instead of just the normal 1 day. Of course I'm rarely in that bedroom, so I don't get to enjoy them as much as if it were in the living room... but that brings us back to the Josie problem....

On top of the cabinet next to the hibiscus is my umpteen-years-old red prayer plant looking down. It seems to like its location, too, where it gets just enough light without direct sunlight.

Oh, and in case you noticed the greenery by the hibiscus pot in the first photo, that's my now-42-year-old ivy. :) All of the above, plus my gerbera daisies, make up the extent of my houseplants these days. I used to have tons of them... but I guess I got lazy... and/or I got cats. ;)

Color!

I have lovely decorations in my sewing room right now. My amaryllis plants are blooming again. The reason they're in my sewing room is because they'd get destroyed by Josie (one of my cats, in case any new readers are wondering) in the living room. At least I'm sewing more lately, so I get to see them every day.

The pinkish one has another bloom that you can see behind the others. And the reddish-orange one will have more soon.

I have one more amaryllis, but it's a bit slower than the others this year, so it's still in the window soaking up sunshine.

You can see there was still ice on the trees when I took that pic yesterday morning, but 40° took care of that  very nicely. I'm looking forward to 50+° later today!

Loveliness!

My amaryllises have been in bloom the last few days. Here's my fav!

New life

I finally brought my amaryllises out a couple weeks ago. I did it later than usual, because I didn't really have a place to put them (that was safe from Josie, at least) where they'd get much sunlight until recently. Not to mention that we haven't had much sunshine this winter! But finally the snow melted down enough in front of my sewing room window that I could set them there. (Yeah, it's been kinda like a cave in there most of the winter. Not too inspiring for sewing.) They're doing nicely, and since I took this pic on Monday, each one has sprouted a flower stalk.

Did you notice the one on the left has a youngster? Yep, she produced it last year. I doubt that the baby will bloom this year, though. I think it takes a couple years or more.

What's that you say? There's still an awful lot of snow in front of my window? Yeah, you've got that right. *sigh* And we're supposed to get more next week. Ack. At least I have something green and growing to watch.

For Kris

This is the best I can do for now. Hope it brightens your day a little. ;-)

A good decision

As those of you who've been following my blog for awhile know, I decided I was going to toss out my quite-a-few-years-old hibiscus plant(s) at the end of this summer. It was a good plan. With all the rain and humidity we had this summer and fall, it was not looking at all healthy. I knew its time was near when the weather started getting colder, so I quit watering it so it would be lighter and easier to carry away. When we got our wind and snow on October 27th, it blew over, and here's how the poor thing looked:

Pretty sad, huh? It was still somewhat heavy, or actually more like awkward to carry away, but the worst part was getting it out of the pot. I've never seen a more solid bunch of roots! It took some digging around the edges with a knife and then some thumping it on the ground, plus a lot of tugging, but I managed. So, all is said and done.

BUT.... here's the new life from the cuttings I took back in June. As you can see, the red one has a bloom and more buds, and there are buds on the coral one, too. So I'm happy.

Now if only I could keep it out where I could see it... but alas, there's Josie, who I'm sure would torment it. So it is relegated to the bedroom where Courtney sleeps, till it gets a little bigger, anyway. Oh, well......

PRETTY pics (NOT bugs!)

A few weeks ago in the grocery store I couldn't pass up this mini rose plant that had coral colored (though they look more pink in the photo) buds.

I put it into a bigger pot and have been setting it outside every day. It really took off and now has a whole new set of blooms. So I thought you'd enjoy seeing it instead of bugs for a change. ENJOY, and as always, click the pics to enlarge if you want.

I hope it will do as well in the house over the winter. It'll get plenty of south sun, so it should. Well, once Josie figures out it has thorns, anyway.

Color in my white world

It's amaryllis time again! This one is always in a hurry to bloom. It was over a foot high before I remembered to take it out of our dark basement room. It didn't take long for the buds to mature and open up. Gorgeous, isn't it?

The other two are coming along nicely, too.

That's our snow-covered deck in the background.

I finally got a coral bloom on my hibiscus yesterday, too. It's really a deeper color than most of them have been. I was quite surprised. And I love it! Too bad hibiscus blooms only last a day. But there are more on the way.

(Click any photo to enlarge.)

Below is some more 'color'. I've just started another sewing project. 20 pieces to sew together! Something new. Any guesses?

Nah, you'll never guess (but you can still try if you want!). You'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully it won't be too long!

I didn't have the heart to do it

I mentioned last spring that I might toss my hibiscus plant rather than bring it back in for the winter, since it's so old and needs to be in a bigger (harder to handle) pot, etc. But I couldn't do it. I brought it in a week or so ago, and this is what it looked like yesterday. It had seven flowers. And look at all those buds! So I guess it'll be around for another season, at least!

You really should click on the link above to see how it looked then compared to now!

(Click either photo to enlarge.)

A little indoor gardening

Since my gardener ran off with the maid and the cook, I decided I'd better take matters into my own hands (literally) and get a few things done on Saturday. It was a very productive day. I transplanted the little impatiens plant from the amaryllis pot into a little pot of its own. It survived the transplant quite well, with no rejection issues.

It went into a VERY little pot of its own. Note the size comparison. :-)

Either I'll put it outside with other impatiens when the weather gets warm enough, or I might just keep it in the window of my sewing room to brighten things up in there (which will, of course, mean future transplants). We'll see.

Next my hibiscus plant... this is before.

And here it is after.

Pretty sad, huh? But a necessary job. And I know, it's not the proper time of year for the pruning. It's supposed to be done in the fall so that when it's time to put it outside for the summer, it's all full again and ready to bloom. But mine always blooms all winter because it gets full sunshine through our south living room windows. So when the sun gets high enough in the sky in the spring that it no longer comes into the living room, and the hibiscus is getting overgrown and scraggly-looking, that's when I prune it. It's a little slower to start blooming outside, but that's okay. I'd rather enjoy the nice blooms all winter in the house.

The trimmings make for a nice bouquet, don't you think?

Yeah, I know... I trimmed off flower buds, too, which I hate to do. But there are always buds, so I can't avoid it.

The plant is getting so old that I may just toss it this fall instead of bringing it indoors. It's so woody at the base that it doesn't make a nice-shaped plant anymore, and it needs a bigger pot, which would be even harder to handle than the one it's in now. BUT, I don't know. I've had it for years and loved it, and I'd hate to give it up. And where else could I find a hibiscus plant that has two different colored flowers?! Here are a couple of its last.

Well, this post has gotten much longer than I intended when I started out, so now I'd better get off to some serious sewing. We sold 10 buckets in 10 days out of the Etsy shop, and so far we've sold 3 of the new book covers! Fun!!