In December, nurseries focus on Christmas, but somewhere behind the conifers and decorations, bulbs are still being offered. Amaryllis and Paperwhites are especially interesting because they grow and flower quickly at house temperatures.
Being able to flower bulbs inside is a joyful experience for gardeners who feel helplessly stuck in the house during January's dark non-gardening days. Like autumn crocus, amaryllis is reputed to be able to flower from a bare bulb on a windowsill. I haven't tried the bare bulb theory, but I have flowered amaryllis in an outsize hyacinth-type glass with water just below the bulb. I encouraged it with a little liquid organic fertilizer in the water. But the flowers are bigger, better and the plant is healthier if it's in a soil mix laced with bonemeal. The pot should be a little larger than the bulb, which should protrude one-third out of the soil.
The bigger the amaryllis bulb, the more chances of having multiple stems. Since each stem has two or three huge trumpet flowers, the huge bulbs are worth the extra expense. Multiples often mean a longer flowering period too.
Colours of the standard large-flowered ones can be red, pink, white or variations such as picotee, bicoloureds and greenish white. In nurseries, the old-fashioned, popular ones such as Orange Sovereign, Red Lion and Apple Blossom usually predominate. There are also doubles such as Red Pearl or the pink and white Aphrodite or the white, red-edged 'Picotee.' The Cybister hybrids are smaller and produce spidery green and/or burgundy flowers.
After flowering, amaryllis can be regularly watered and fertilized. Given a dormant period of six to eight weeks in early fall followed by resumption of watering, some may bloom again in winter. But no matter how well amaryllis is looked after, most will set their own blooming schedule, which is likely to be spring or summer.
Paperwhites are a type of Narcissus tazetta, a Mediterranean narcissus that doesn't need dark or cool temperatures to develop and blooms about six weeks after being planted. These are happier in soil but tend to rot if it's not well drained. They flower equally well perched on gravel in shallow water-filled containers. The water should be just under the bulbs, but not touching them. Add more gravel for support. Paperwhites stems tend to lean so need staking or tying.
Experiments at Cornell University showed that a little hard liquor added to paper-white water produces stems one-third shorter than those of regularly-grown paper-whites. The amount of alcohol should be four to six per cent of the total water volume in which the bulbs grow
Paperwhites are frost-tender and usually discarded after blooming. But since they're zone 8 hardy, coastal gardeners might bring them through a mild winter with mulch.
