I am enjoying a sea of scarlet-red amaryllis blooms right now. Two cultivars opened at the same time. This is ‘Ferrari Red’:
And this is ‘Floris Hecker’:
Their color is nearly identical. ‘Ferrari Red’ has scapes that grow sturdy and straight, and the blooms are 6 inches across. My first scape has 5 flowers on it and the bulb has already sent up a second scape that is the same height as the blooming one. The scapes are topping out at 22 inches.
‘Floris Hecker’ tries hard but just can’t overcome ‘Ferrari Red’ in any characteristic. The scapes love to lean and I have to make sure to rotate the pot 180 degrees every day so the plant won’t tip over. The bulb also sent up a lot of floppy foliage. The blooms are an inch smaller in diameter than ‘Ferrari Red’ (5 inches), and my bulb has only sent up one scape so far with 4 flowers. ‘Floris Hecker’ is 21 inches tall.
Here they are side by side. ‘Ferrari Red is on the left and ‘Floris Hecker’ is on the right.
In a head-to-head match-up, I have to give the prize to ‘Ferrari Red’.