2002.10.8 – gardening guru?

Do you know how difficult it is to have a green thumb in an apartment building?

Actually…I don’t have a green thumb at all, but the fact that I live on the third floor in a blacktop jungledoesn’t really help matters. Living downtown is extremely cool, except if you like to see greenery.

So…I have started a lovely windowsill garden. Mind you, the plants in this garden rarely get air, but with the southern exposure they get more sun than any plant could ever want. One plant, in particular, is an Amaryllis. “Why is this plant so special?” you may ask. Well, it is actually a twentieth or twenty-fifth generation bulb, of which it’s ancestor was raised in Andalusia, Alabama. A far cry from Buffalo, but my bulb seems to enjoy it up here.

I suppose it has become accustomed to the change in temperature, just as my grandmother did when she moved here back in the fifties. The original bulb, of which mine is a great (many times over) granddaughter, was brought here in a coffee can.

My mother lovingly transplanted it the moment she arrived home from visiting my Mama (southern for Grandma) Kate. This little bulb produced dozens upon dozens of children and now one of those children is part of my window garden.

Obviously, this is a fiesty little plant, but there has always been one problem. We have never seen it bloom.Actually, until recently we didn’t even know it was an Amaryllis, but with a little research we found out that it was. So…in my internet travels I have found a way to make it bloom! This will be really exciting, at least for me, if it works.

Below I have included several links to guide you, the reader, through fall planting and forcing of bulbs. Maybe in your clicking, you will find out that one of those plants you thought was just leaves, happens to also be something that can spring forth a beautiful bud!

Good luck and happy gardening!

Peace –
Hippiegrrl

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