The Amaryllis Cure

After bursting out with three 9-inch flowers, my $14 Dancing Queen Amaryllis bulb from Smith & Hawken in Westfield produced a stalk topped by four 8-inch blooms. Now as those flowers are fading, a new stalk has shot up with a big bud at the top. It’s a great cure for the winter doldrums, worth anything else you can get for $14 nowadays.

An amaryllis bulb looks like an overgrown onion and offers no hint what is inside. It gives me the same feeling of anticipation as when I get a new pocket calendar, wondering what will fill up those pages. I like to add a ribbon place-holder, with some kind of little ornament at the end.

All too soon the dates will be filled in with meetings and obligations, deadlines and reminders. Later this year, I’ll be making a note to take the amaryllis outside for the summer so it can produce the long, floppy leaves it needs for replenishment. And before the first frost I’ll remind myself to cut them off, stash the bulb in a dark corner and at year’s end check for the green tips that promise an encore performance.

Plan ahead – flip to November in your 2007 calendar and make a note: Buy an amaryllis to light up winter’s dark days.