Yesterday I was ready to declare a Christmas miracle. ‘Temptation’, the amaryllis that I thought was dead, had finally sent up some signs of life after 10 weeks. The day before there was nothing and then yesterday there were little green shoots sticking out everywhere.
I was all excited until I examined it more closely and discovered that this was not my left-for-dead amaryllis after all, but a bulb I purchased last month to replace it. So much for the miracle.
I looked around for the pot with my do-nothing bulb, but I couldn’t find it. In fact I didn’t see any pots without some sort of growth. I turned each one around so I could read the labels. Finally I spotted ‘Temptation’.
That moody bulb has sent up two scapes, and one is already 8 inches tall. I have no idea how I missed all that activity. Last week the bulb was still just sitting there doing nothing.
This is the amaryllis I was most excited about growing. It’s already different from all the others with its dark-red scapes. I’ll soon find out if the flowers were worth the wait.