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Bulbs to brighten your home
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Summer is the right time to pot indoor plants. Try out this lily variety before the season ends to enable it to bloom this time next year.
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LOVELY LILY: Amaryllis is a favourite with florists.
AMARYLLIS (Hippeastrum) are easily-grown showy bulbous plants with long bright green straps-shaped leaves. Flowers are trumpet-shaped with six perianth - segments, and prominent stamens.
They are creamy white with red stripes, or in various shades of red, orange and yellow. Leaves rising from the neck of the bulb grow up to 18" long.
A thick hollow smooth flower stem up to 18" appears from one side of the neck of the bulb and carries about two to four flowers. Each flower can be 6" across.
Flowering time: summer
Hippeastrums can be grown in pots or in the shady parts of the garden. Plant in pot with half the bulb above the soil level. Pot-mixture preferably with leaf mould and gritty sand. Feed when buds appear. Flowers appear six to eight weeks after planting; leaves appear after flowering. Shade pot plants from direct sunlight. Newly potted bulbs should be watered sparingly - just enough to keep the potting mixture barely moist, until roots appear and the plant looks healthy. Thereafter, water more moderately enough to keep the potting mixture constantly moist. When the leaves turn yellow, keep the potting mixture completely dry throughout the resting period.
Hippeastrums need shaded light throughout the active growth period; during the dormant period, light is unimportant. Normally, warm room temperature encourages fast growth and brings the plant into early bloom. Direct sun burns the foliage.
The plant propagates through small bulbs produced around the base of the parent bulb. Prepare bulbs for the dormant period by removing all the dried foliage. Leave them in their pots and store in a dry place.
If a Hippeastrums produces lots of leaves at the beginning of the growing season, it is unlikely that the bulb will flower. The first thing to rise from the bulb is usually the buds. Re-pot every third year. Makes good cut flowers for florists.
CHITRA RADHAKRISHNAN
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