Heat Blooms for Winter Days: GBBD, February 2024

In Maine, we’re on the downhill aspect of winter, greater than midway from the winter solstice to the spring equinox. Days are getting longer, and the upper angle of the solar, mixed with temperatures above freezing on many days, is melting snow. I can see naked floor below bushes and alongside the muse of the home, the place some new shoots of inexperienced are seen.

Regardless of these hints of spring to return, it is going to be about six weeks till the primary flowers bloom out within the backyard. This can be a time of 12 months, when winter is getting outdated and I’m looking forward to spring, that I significantly welcome the nice and cozy colours of indoor blooms. Potted amaryllis (Hippeastrum) bulbs fill the invoice.

In late October, I put the potted bulbs away within the basement for a interval of dormancy. I started taking them out once more in late December, one-third at a time, to stagger their blooming. Hippeastrum is a tropical bulb that likes warmth, so it takes them some time to develop in my cool winter home. The primary to flower was ‘Dancing Queen,’ a plant with huge red-orange and white double flowers that I acquired as a Christmas reward from a buddy a number of years in the past. I’m not usually a fan of double flowers, however this one offers a giant, pleasant splash of cheerful heat within the depth of winter, and it all the time makes me smile. As a result of the flower stem could be very tall (presumably one other impact of gradual development in a cool atmosphere), I’ve positioned ‘Dancing Queen’ on the ground in entrance of a glass door that leads out to the deck from my bed room. The door doesn’t get utilized in winter, and this place signifies that I see the flowers very first thing every morning, backlit by the rising solar.

By the point these flowers fade, different varieties will observe. At the moment, I’ve creating buds on 4 further amaryllis bulbs. Once they end blooming, the primary flowers of spring will likely be opening open air.

Backyard Bloggers’ Bloom Day is a convention developed and hosted every month by Carol Michel at Could Goals Gardens. Go to her weblog to see what different gardeners have blooming in February.