My Valentine Amaryllis

After Christmas is a great time to get some bargains for the next year.  The problem is by the time Christmas is over, most of us just want to put things away and not think about it anymore.  The good part is that you can get some great deals on decorations and by next year you have forgotten about it.   It's like giving a gift to yourself.  I saw some ornaments for 90% off last week.  After the first of the year, I saw a whole table of Amaryllis for sale.  They were marked down, so I bought one.

I potted it up in the planting mixture and the ugly plastic pot that came in the box.  I followed the instructions and in no time the plant started to grow.  I didn't like the pot so I found a doily that I had made a while ago.  It was from a Coats & Clark book from the 1970's.  I wrote them to see if I could post the pattern because I don't want to infringe on any copyright laws.  I did not hear back so this is the book.

This is the book, copyright 1978.

Here the doily looks darker because it is wet from being blocked.

After I blocked the doily and it was dry, I threaded a similar colored thread through the outside and gathered it up.  I put the doily around the plastic flower pot, secured the thread and tied it with a ribbon.  I'm not crazy about the ribbon but until I find something better, you get the idea.

It was pretty amazing to see how fast the plant grew.  Every day you could see the growth.

In less than a month a dried up amaryllis bulb turned into this beautiful flower.  There are two more buds on the other side that aren't open yet, but they will be soon.  Hopefully I can keep the bulb and do it all over again next year.  Instead of a Christmas Amaryllis, this year it is my Valentine flower

Another bud ready to open in a day or two.