Amaryllis plants have strappy leaves and huge flowers shaped like trumpet lilies. The blooms are typically a deep red, pink, white, or blend of these colors. You can expect your amaryllis to bloom for seven weeks or longer. Be aware that the amaryllis has toxic qualities in the bulbs, leaves, and stems for both people and pets.
Spring and Summer Indoor Amaryllis Care
To bring your amaryllis care indoors, partially fill a 5- to 7-inch pot with a quality, well-draining sandy loam potting mix. Then, plant the amaryllis bulb, so the top third is exposed when you fill in the rest of the pot with potting mix. The bulbs should be planted 10 to 12 weeks before you want them to bloom. Place a bamboo stake alongside the bulb. The flowers can get top-heavy, and inserting the stake at the time of planting will help you avoid damaging the bulb and roots later. Grown as a potted plant indoors, amaryllis prefers direct morning sun but bright indirect light in the afternoon. Keep the soil moist but not wet. A thick flower stalk should shoot up within a few weeks after planting. The flat leaves will follow as the flower stalk matures. Turn the pot every few days, so the flower stalk gets uniform light exposure on all sides and grows straight.
Fall and Winter Indoor Amaryllis Care
Many people purchase amaryllis bulbs to be potted in the fall, so they can be in bloom over the winter holidays. If you’re going that route with your amaryllis care indoors, simply follow the setup steps used for spring planting. But if you’re engaging in amaryllis care year-round, you can take some specific amaryllis care steps after flowering to achieve those winter blooms. After your amaryllis has bloomed, cut back the flower stalk but allow the foliage to continue growing. You can place your plant outdoors for summer in partial shade if you like. Water your amaryllis whenever the top 2 inches of soil become dry. And feed it with a half-strength water-soluble fertilizer every two to three weeks. Stop feeding in August, and bring your plant back indoors. Its foliage will be depreciating, but the plant still should never be exposed to frost. You can cut back any fully depreciated amaryllis leaves. At this point, it’s time to put your amaryllis in the dark. Move it to a cool (55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit), dry indoor spot that lacks light. Also, stop watering it either at this point or 10 to 12 weeks prior to when you want it to bloom (if you’re targeting a winter holiday). The lack of foliage and water will induce the amaryllis to send out another flower stalk. Resume watering at this time, and move the plant to a warm, sunny indoor spot. Leaves will appear, and blooms will soon follow. After flowering, withhold feeding for eight to 10 weeks to induce the dormancy needed to reset the bulbs.
Caring for Amaryllis Outdoors
In zones 8 to 10, amaryllis care outdoors is possible. You can grow the bulbs in well-drained, fertile soil, planting them whenever the soil temperature is 70 degrees Fahrenheit or above. Amaryllis is a tropical plant, so it prefers warm temperatures. It will grow in full sun to part shade conditions, but bright shade is the best environment outdoors. If your area is entirely frost-free, plant the bulbs with their necks at or slightly above ground level. In areas where frost is possible, set the bulbs with 5 to 6 inches of soil above them, followed by 5 to 6 inches of mulch. Water thoroughly after planting, but then water only when the top 2 inches of soil is dry. After leaves appear, feed with a balanced fertilizer once per month through blooming. When flowering is complete, remove the flower stalks but leave the foliage to continue growing. If any leaves turn yellow, cut them off. In fall, apply a layer of winter mulch if your area will see winter frost. The plants typically go dormant over winter.
Types of Amaryllis
There are dozens of different amaryllis varieties, and the choice really depends on what flower color most appeals to you. Some recommended types include:
‘Samba’: This variety has large red ruffled blooms with white markings.‘Apple Blossom’: This popular variety has blooms that mix pink and white with green throats.‘Faro’: This plant has delicate flowers in pale salmon and white. The blooms are smaller and more delicate than most varieties.‘Summertime’: This plant has large 7-inch blooms in a unique watermelon pink to dark rose hue with greenish centers.‘Matterhorn’: This is a good choice for a pure white amaryllis. The throats are yellow-green.
Pruning
When the flowers fade, cut the flower stalk back to just above the bulb. Keep watering the plant until it goes dormant in the fall. You can move the amaryllis outdoors for the summer, placing it in a part-shade location.
Propagating Amaryllis
Amaryllis bulbs will produce side bulbs like daffodils. You can carefully remove these bulbils and pot them to produce more plants once the parent plant has gone dormant and its blooms have died—typically late winter to early spring for outdoor plants and the fall for indoor plants. Give bulbils a few seasons of growth before expecting flowers. Here’s how:
Overwintering
Amaryllis plants located in zones 8 to 10 can be left as is for winter. But in zone 7, they can be overwintered in the garden by applying a heavy layer of mulch. In other zones, you should store amaryllis bulbs for next year by carefully removing the bulb from the garden bed and placing it in a cool, dry, dark spot.
Common Pests & Plant Diseases
Keep on the lookout for spider mites and mealybugs, which can be treated with horticultural oil. Outdoor plants might be feasted upon by slugs and snails. Amaryllis also can get what is known as red blotch and mosaic virus. Red blotch spreads rapidly from bulb to bulb and looks like reddish brown spots on the leaves, bulb, and scape. Any plants with the mosaic virus will show less blooming and growth, and the leaves will have a yellow streaking on them. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about either of these diseases.
How to Get Amaryllis to Bloom
If grown in a frost-free garden (zones 8 to 10), amaryllis will naturally bloom in March, April, and May with a fall rebloom possible. But amaryllis bulbs are often purchased to grow as potted plants for holiday bloom, which is only possible if you plant the dormant bulbs at precisely the right time: about 10 to 12 weeks before desired bloom time. When you buy commercial bulbs from a grower for holiday bloom, these are dormant bulbs that should be kept in a cool, dark, dry spot until the right planting time. If you already have potted amaryllis plants, reblooms can be controlled by setting the plant outdoors to grow through the summer and then bringing it indoors, forcing it into a short period of dormancy by withholding water and fertilizer for several weeks, and then restarting the bulbs. If your amaryllis doesn’t bloom, it is often because it received no rest period after the last bloom or because it is not receiving adequate light.
