CUISINE & CULTURE
Today’s column is the last in the series of the National Garden Bureau’s 2023 “Year of the” plants. Each year the National Garden Bureau (NGB) selects one annual, one perennial, one shrub, one edible, one houseplant, and one bulb crop as their “Year of the” crops.
The winning plants for 2023 in each of the six classes are: annual, Celosia; perennial, Rudbeckia; shrub, Spirea; edible, broccoli; houseplant, orchid; bulb, Amaryllis.
Today’s column features the Amaryllis as the bulb of the year.
We start by distinguishing between two plants commonly called ‘Amaryllis’. Both are in the Amaryllidaceae family, have similar characteristics, but are different plants. The bulb commonly called ‘Amaryllis’ is Amaryllis belladona, known as “Naked Lady” because it bears pink flowers on a long stem without leaves. The true Amaryllis has only the one species, belladonna. It is native to South Africa.
The bulb commonly called ‘Amaryllis’ in the horticulture trade is actually in the genus Hippeastrum (hip-pea-ASS-trum), which is native to Central and South America.
Hippeastrum is a large genus with 90 species and over 600 cultivars.
It is the Hippeastrum bulbs known as Amaryllis that are the subject of today’s column.
Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) bulbs produce an erect, hollow flower stalk usually before leaves are present. Multiple stems and multiple blooms are produced on each stalk; often one stem emerges at a time, giving a long bloom season, typically a month or more.
Larger bulb sizes normally produce more flower stalks or more flowers per stem. The heavier the bulbs, the more costly. Stalks are 18-24” with two to six large, trumpetshaped flowers.
The inflorescences of Amaryllis come in a variety of colors and flower formations. Colors may be pure white, apricot, pink, salmon, rose, red, bicolored, or variegated. The usual blooms have six petals and may be single petaled or double. New hybrids have different shapes and petal forms, with pointy thin petals that resemble spider legs.
New cultivars continue to be released from programs that specialize in producing hybrids. Countries most active in breeding Amaryllis are the Netherlands, South Africa, Japan, Israel, and the United States.
From the National Garden Bureau: In a typical year 10 million bulbs are imported into the U.S.
Amaryllis bloom time in nature is spring and summer.
With proper care an Amaryllis bulb can live 75 years.
Ellen Peffley Harp, a retired professor of horticulture at Texas Tech University, writes about gardening for several Texas newspapers
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