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Professional Pruning

I rarely resort to hiring help in the garden but I'm learning that sometimes it is wise to do so and worth every penny. Case in point - some hideous out-of-control trees that were beyond my ability to deal with. If I were smarter, I would have tackled these issues from the beginning but I didn't know better. The first is a pear tree that was planted along the back fence line. I've worked on this for the past several years, every year with the intent of reducing the height or possibly removing it altogether. As you can see in the photo, I had cut back everything but three limbs and finally realized that it would be dangerous for me to try and bring them down. The limbs grow straight up into the air and the remaining three are about 20 feet tall.  After -- there is a hole in the sky view but the tree should fill in nicely for a good screen and I can keep it trimmed down from this point forward. Farther down along the fence line, and the view from the deck, are two massive pho

Amaryllis Report

'Naranja'

As posted earlier, I potted three amaryllis at the end of November. One is spectacular (the 'Naranja' variety pictured above), one was pretty but brief and one was a total dud.



'Naranja' started out very peachy and the color has darkened a little and looks red-ish now. It is beautiful.



'La Paz' (above) bloomed several weeks earlier and while it is certainly a unique looking amaryllis, the blooms were only pretty for about a week. Michael kept commenting on the fragrance of the blooms but I could not smell a thing.

The one dud in the bunch was 'Red Peacock' and this is what it looks like today -



I don't know why some amaryllis do not do anything at all but there always seems to be one every year.

Until next year...


Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

  1. Wow that first one is a stunner! The 2nd I've seen in person here and there--if you can grow it this year and strengthen the bulb for next spring it might be quite impressive. 3rd--is the bulb soft? Sometimes they take forever here. But--much different climate, of course. Could you grow them outdoors in your old garden in the South?

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    Replies
    1. The bulb is not soft so perhaps I should be patient. We could not grow them outdoors, except during the summer, but then they had to be brought back inside. I've pretty much given up on trying to get a repeat out of them. I've never had success with that.

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  2. I've never had an Amaryllis/Hippeastrum fail to bloom at all until this year. I bought 3 'Estella', 2 of which I gave as gifts, and none of them has even shown signs of life. I had a few bloom earlier but most of the others (excluding 'Estella') are actively moving in that direction. I grow all of mine outside so, even in our mild winter climate, they bloom later here.

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  3. I'm in NE Alabama but a little south of where Phillip lived. I've planted the bulbs outside and they have survived and bloomed in the spring. I planted the bulb so it doesn't show at all, unlike when it is in a pot.

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  4. I too potted up 3 bulbs at the end of November, figuring that way when I took down all the Christmas decorations I'd be closing in on fabulous blooms to cheer the space. Wrong. One is just finally open (Evergreen Cybister, it's fabulous), one is starting to bust open (white) and the other, La Paz', is still just buds and lots of leaves. It's been fun watching them develop though.

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    Replies
    1. I've learned that it takes much longer for them to bloom than the usually stated "6 weeks".

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