This post can be considered a cautionary tale to those of us addicted to YouTube videos and Pinterest!
I fell in love with amaryllis last winter- its glorious winter color lifts any gardener’s soul- but the bulbs can be somewhat pricey. Growing a single bulb in a plastic pot is not the most decorative either.
Thus began my trek into the rabbit hole of YouTube, garden blogs, and Pinterest, not only to find more decorative ways to display amaryllis, but also how to successfully overwinter over-summer the bulbs.
Over-Summering Amaryllis Bulbs
I’m saying over-summer since that’s actually what we’re doing- nourishing the bulb through the spring and summer so we can force it into dormancy and then re-bloom the next winter. I think overwinter is a bit of a misnomer in this case.
This is just my experience over that last year, so don’t take this as gospel. If you’ve had success re-blooming amaryllis, please share your experience in the comments! And struggles too…
I have bulbs I purchased last year, from big box stores and also specialty growers. A friend also gave me two bowls that were stuffed full of small bulbs and bulblets, which were gifted to her by someone cleaning out their basement.
After reading around the internet, I decided to leave some of the purchased bulbs in a big enamel pot I used while the plants were blooming. I left the two bowls of bulbs alone through the spring (in a sunny spot and just watering them). Almost all of them came back to life, although the leaves maybe reached 5″ high.
Once the weather warmed up, late June-ish, I separated out the two bowls of bulbs and planted half in a plastic pot. I put the enamel and plastic pots under shade on the deck for the summer. The big, floppy leaves aren’t attractive but what can you do?
All the rest of the bulbs I planted in one of the raised beds.
In September I finally got around to lifting the bulbs out of the ground and setting them (leaves and all) in a plastic crate lined with landscape fabric and in peat moss. Then I moved the pots and crate down to the basement to let the bulbs go into dormancy.


September really was too late, this year I will be sure to move them in August. The bulbs need about 2 months of dormancy and another 6-8 to bloom usually. Needless to say, I did not have re-blooming amaryllis at Christmas.
I checked on them periodically, cutting off the leaves as they died back. In December, I brought everybody out of the dark basement (a few had already started to push leaves), and this is when I descended into the abyss of PINTEREST PERFECTION.
My Epic Pinterest Fail
I decided it would be VERY IMPORTANT for me to display my amaryllis with flair and creativity. I did get a little creative last year; in the big enamel pot I planted amaryllis, some narcissus (another fail we can talk about some other time), sedum, and pine cones for a lovely woodland feel.
It looked good while the amaryllis was blooming, but then I stuck the pot on a top shelf, out of the way for the remainder of winter, so not a lot of bang for the buck on that one.
What I really need is a way to decoratively keep the amaryllis blooms upright.
Look at all the lovely ways to weave sticks and branches into support structures. YES! I CAN DO THIS.



I gathered my supplies- I cut some branches off the yellow-twig dogwood, shears, the bulbs, and string.



The Crock
I found this fabulous crock at our fav antique store in Findlay, OH, Jeffrey’s. Because it has a crack in it, it was only $20 (easily $80-$100 if pristine).
I kept this one simple- I wanted to just curve over some branches. I did a practice placement and it looked great.
Since the crock is so big, I filled the bottom with plastic bottles before adding in potting soil. I always add peat moss to my potting soil. It adds bulk and lightness. I can’t say if it is good for the plants, but I’ve never had trouble.



I planted a couple of the specialty bulbs from last year, and a couple small bulbs. It looks so cute! I also added some tiny pinecones later to cover the soil.
The wait to get blooms on these bulbs is long; the right is a picture from today. So far the structure is helping. Next year I will add more branches and create more of a grid.



This is the hot mess I was trying to avoid- I didn’t use any support in the enamel pot and the stems were 30″ tall! Marshmallow-toasting sticks to the rescue!


The Shallow Pots
Now things started going awry.
For these two shallow bowls I wanted to weave the twigs for the round one and use string for a looser, kind of ladder look on the square one.
How hard can it be? On TV, the mountaineers always construct a litter out of branches and a shirt for the injured party in three minutes. Plus boy scouts, right?


Not working.
I called in reinforcements (an extra pair of hands thanks to my mom).
I used clothespins, long sticks, short sticks, wrap the string twice, three times, tie knots.
OMG HOW HARD CAN THIS BE? BOY SCOUTS CAN DO IT


After an hour I said the heck with this and pulled out the big guns.
Hot Glue, baby.

Now we were cooking.
I just glued those sticks together and finished in no time. Didn’t even bother with the weaving attempt.




I can’t say how sturdy the supports will be- as I learned from the crock I will add more cross supports for next year. I planted the small bulbs in these bowls so the plants aren’t very big this year (I didn’t expect flowers at all).


My Take-aways
*Have a good place to store the plants after flowering, and expect them to be big and unattractive. I use the top shelf of my seedling units.

*The plants I kept in the pots did better than the ones I put in the ground and then re-potted. This year they are all staying in the pots.
*My mom had a specialty bulb from last year and she put the potted bulb in her basement after it flowered. I brought it to my house (in August), left it outside, and it pushed leaves in a week. It bloomed in October.
*My cousin stored her specialty bulb in a paperbag (she bloomed it in water, not potted). This one did not grow from the bulb but does have a bulblet start over on the left. The bulb is firm so we’ll wait to see what happens next year.

*I wanted to use the flowers in church arrangements over the winter. Mother Nature did not cooperate and the blooms all came at staggered times. I need more flowering plants to have two arrangements at the same time.
*Consider planting most of the bulbs singly in plastic pots that can be sunk into large decorative pots in groups for display during bloom time.
*None of the specialty bulbs, which were all doubles, came back as double blooms. Interesting. I’m going to stick with single ‘trumpet’ style going forward.
*It is so worth the time and effort to over-summer the bulbs. And when the stems flop from the weight of the flowers, I pick them to use in a vase. They’ll last for weeks if you pick at the first bud.


EDITED TO ADD:
Don’t you know, four days after posting this, what bloomed beautifully?! These double blooms are two of the specialty bulbs I purchased last from Longfield Garden. So I take back that none of the doubles rebloomed double. And honestly, I think their color is even more spectacular!

Thanks for reading, friends! I know this is a long post. Do you love amaryllis? Have you tried over-summering or do you toss them?
Hugs, Pam