Anna.... The first thing I noticed was the empty spot in the middle. Looks like the perfect spot for a new kitten...any plans?

Looks like you have many other blooms coming soon!
K

Are you psychic, Karen?? A recent rescue last fall, then an abandoned wee kitten just after our ice-storm at Christmas and before the coldest weather ever. She would not have made it had we not found her! Both are pictured here :)

Lovely Anna! Both your hippies and your cats.
How wonderful that you happened to find the little kitten just in time. A miracle indeed.

Thanks! And just so you know, I religiously remove the pollen off the hippy blooms, as we all know, it is toxic.

My deepest respect and admiration for having saved the two poor things! I see most of your bulbs are rather large and produce multiple scapes. How many times, roughly, have you already rebloomed them?
Lena

I just got home and read your post and as soon as I saw your empty spot in the window in your first picture I had the same thought as Kristi!! Glad you found a warm furry body to fill the space! Lucky little kitty!! Oh, and your flowers are lovely too!

Donna

Donna - don't worry, there are other furry residents vying for that spot! They just have to get over the new ones - some of you may know how touchy that can be!

Lena - ah, that is quite the question! I have a basement full of old (resting) bulbs from previous years, that are now smaller, and many do not rebloom. But I cannot throw them out, and as long as there are leaves, and the bulb is a decent size, I hang on to it. So, the annual "pilgrimage" outdoors will begin again come summer. :) Hope springs eternal! The bulbs you see here are newly purchased this year, as I MUST have them every winter season.

Kristi !! of course I now that! - so sorry for saying Karen accidentally!

Anna - what a lovely winter garden!!!!!!

Please pardon my stupid question. Why do they not rebloom? My Aphroditie is from 2011, My Red Lion is from 2012. My Chico is 2013, etc. They have lived happily by benign neglect through the summer. I bring them in before frost, rest them for about 6 - 8 weeks (October through mid-December) and they usually just restart themselves. My Aphroditie has about 3 offsets, and I just repotted all of it in a bigger pot so I can grow a "family".

Anna, I know what you mean about the difficulty of reblooming bulbs from the previous years. Mine have all also shrunk in size. I'm trying to give them sunnier spots and fertilize regularly. Come spring, they will all be moved to a sunny balcony. Hopefully, with some TLC they will bounce back and bloom for me next year. I have had a lot of Hippis just languish in the years following the first flush of blooms... This time I'm dead set on nurturing them back into the blooming frame of mind... and body, for that matter.

Well, I do what is best prescribed: sun and fertilizer over summer - they go outdoors - then indoors at the end of the summer, into the basement and I take leaves off as they fade. In the early days of my "mania" I did none of this, and for sure, since then I have been more mindful, and I do have more reblooms. Maybe I should just discard the really old bulbs, and maintain properly the recent ones. But, one year I was shocked to see a rather old bulb, quite small in size, produce a most exquisite scape with many blooms. Anyway - it is fun, and I like surprises - nothing like seeing that little "nose" emerging :)
And one year, an old San Remo, which had produced 3 offsets over a 2 or 3 years, finally bloomed with the offsets as well - now THAT was pure joy!

Thank you, Anna and Parodise. I can see that growing these amaryllis is a labor of love and there is a lot I have to learn. Please do not take offence at my "why" questions. Sometimes I can be too direct. All of you have a lot more experience. Anna, what do you mean by "old" bulbs?

Marie

Old bulb, as in not bought this year, prepped by the professionals to bloom reliably. I buy new ones every year to guarantee I will have blooms in winter :-)

Ah. Thank you. i was thinking "old" as in multiple years. I am dense. LOLs. :-D

Anna,

Your window of blooms is absolutely gorgeous and I love the very lucky cat and kitten. How warm you home looks during a cold winter!
-J