Bringing in the Amaryllis

Well, the yard and my gardens are a mess after a week away. It seems like we had a lot of rain, as the grass is really long and the yard is soaked. It is also freezing here. It was very strange to come from Arizona and 100+ temps to Virginia where it was in the low 50s yesterday. I am going to make my list of garden chores this morning, but first on the list is this:

I had a beautiful amaryllis last Christmas that I bought as a single bulb at MGC, so I saved it and put it outside during the summer. Now is the time to clean it up, bring it in, withhold water, and put it in a cool, dark place for about 8 weeks. I think I will put mine in the basement. Then I can bring it out, cut off the dead leaves, and see what happens. If all goes well, it should look like this sometime in January,

I think I had 6 to 8 huge blooms on this one. I love the winter bulbs. I always have an amaryllis and I usually stagger 2 bowls of paperwhites, one to bloom at Christmas, and one to bloom in January. I can't believe I am thinking about Christmas already. I know it will be here before we know it, and hopefully I will have some blooms!