Amaryllis
Hippeastrum hybridum
Midwinter flowers from a fat bulb that sleeps the rest of the year — the dormancy is the part most people get wrong.
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 11.8 in
- In-row spacing
- 11.8 in
- Between rows
- 15 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Growing
- Type
- Houseplant · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Part shade
- Feeding
- All-purpose balanced
- Frost tolerant
- No
- Flowering
- January
Through the year
- Jan–Mar Flowering
- Mar–Sep Spring Growth
- Sep–Nov Winter Dormancy
- Nov–Dec Bud Break
- Jan–Jan Bud Break
Pests & problems
- Mealybugs Mealybug hidden down between the scales of the bulb
- Narcissus bulb fly Narcissus bulb fly larvae inside the bulb
- Root & crown rot Bulb rot from watering while the bulb is dormant
- Red blotch (Stagonospora), which streaks the leaves and flower stalks red
Garden allies
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Green lacewing Chrysoperla carneaHunts Mealybugs
Its bristly larvae — "aphid lions" — impale aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and mite colonies, eating hundreds a week. Adults feed on nectar and pollen from small open flowers and overwinter in hollow stems left standing.
- Hoverfly SyrphidaeHunts Mealybugs
Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.
- Ladybird (lady beetle) CoccinellidaeHunts Mealybugs
The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com