Hippeastrum season!

[John M]

My kitchen windowsill. Finally! The snow is gone. The Daffodils are up and the Hippeastrum are all blooming!

 

[abax]

Gorgeous display. When I see these beautiful flowers, I often wonder what
Oscar and Tandy think about them. Perhaps from a parrot's point of view,
they might look like good eating! Parrots see color very, very well and the
flowers look mighty tempting.

 

[John M]

Thanks Angela. Tandy doesn't pay any attention to flowers, or show any interest in going to the windowsill. However, Oscar will sometimes climb up to get at the bananas! She LOVES bananas. She's never shown any interest in chewing on any potted plants or cut flowers, thank goodness!

 

[Trithor]

Colorful display, I have got to try a few of these this winter!

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Nicely flowered! I hope mine flowers this year.

 

[SlipperFan]

Nice display!

 

[The Orchid Boy]

Love them! How do you keep the spikes from breaking without staking? My blooms get so big and the stem breaks if I don't stake...

 

[paphioboy]

Beautiful! They look positively underpotted.. haha.

 

[John M]

Love them! How do you keep the spikes from breaking without staking? My blooms get so big and the stem breaks if I don't stake...

I let the flowering stems grow in my greenhouse; so, maybe the stems are strong because of the good light at this time of year. The 'Minerva' in the back on the left (in the white glass dish), had to be staked because in order to stop myself from watering the flower and disturbing the pollen, I placed the pot, freshly in bloom, just outside of the greenhouse door. I placed the pot in a big tray with holes made for 5" pots, so the pot was secure. Then, I forgot the plant outside and it stayed out all night while the temps went down to about 1 or 2 degrees Celcius. In the a.m., I found the pot being held upright, in place in the try; but, the flowering stem had leaned right over until the blooms touched the neighbouring tray. The blooms were fine; but, the stem lost it's strength in the cold. So, I staked it back upright when I brought it up to the house. None of the others have needed staking.....but, they didn't get left outside in the cold!

 

[Ozpaph]

They are lovely