Hippeastrum Lilies

I would definitely be a proud owner of these flowers.
"Flowers?"
 "Wait! You mean flowers coming out from this onion looking thingy?"

And that's the fate of many of these bulbs.
(yes, this onion looking thingy)
Often found those as they stubbornly fail to flower or bloom for years. I'm pretty sure many new gardeners who had dreamed of having  lilies in their garden but would had fountain like leaves sprays of bland and boring.

I had seen many of these and that one fine day these once owners would had decided enough is enough and toss them out from their flower pots or dumps. I for one had manage to collect some - there are many that had perished for the lack of knowledge. In this case - the wisdom of blooming these lovely blooms. (oh..yes! These onion thingy - don't eat them - they are poisonous!)

It is known as Hippeastrum species, very common and easily found in many gardens around my area. I often notice these small salmon blooms when it shoot out it flower scapes during its flowering season. Often mistaken for Amaryllis
(who cares about its scientific names - ohh.. I just love the flowers)

The exact name eludes me as I'm unable to find it even in Google. My closest guess is:  Hippeastrum Petiolatum variety.


I kept aside all these bulbs without watering or planting inside my house, thinking what to do with it and it was about a month or so and suddenly I found few of these bulbs shooting their flower-scapes without my permission!!!

I had immediately put them out placing them around a flower pot. To my delight the roots didn't make its way into the pot and so they are easily transferred and move about for more flower bulbs to fill in the available space.

To date - there are 7 of them are in actively blooming and another 2 more bulbs shooting.

Within this week, I'm joyously experiencing the event of the week - The blooming of my lilies. It is truly lovely and wonderful to have these flowers greet me as I leave to work in the morning. Its a pity my camera had gone caput and therefore the pictures are only managed from my mobile phone.
Regardless - they are still a thing of a beauty.

My suggestion:
Don't throw away your Amaryllis or Hippeastrum bulbs.
1) Uproot them and keep them aside in a dry and cool place.

2) Let the leaves slowly turn yellow and dry as it will  send back all its nutrients back to the bulb storage.

3) Later after few months - replant them and you will find them blooming. Or you can keep them and wait and see if they surprise you with flower scapes such as these.

And yes - Good Luck. I came to know few gardeners tried and tried but their bulbs just refuse to bulge or in this case - refuse to flower. No wonder, they all get frustrated and toss them away. Ahem!! I just hope someone collects them - they are many that are still lying around.

D.I.Y. Vertical Garden Project

It would have been easy if I had kept this and considered it as a finished work but nature had set it course against me in speeding up the delay factor. Perhaps the materials that I initially thought was classic were against me. Tin-can and a wooden crate are really lovely material to give that exotic time-less piece. I was wrong. Within few months the tin-can eroded and the wooden piece slowly giving away to rot.

This was my first project:  click at the link below
Tropical Vertical Garden Experiment

I was contemplating whether to continue with another project of improving the foundational material, whether they too will crumble due to the weight of time or proof worthy for the next round. Well this time I used the Cola plastic bottles. I found that they are quite durable, the bottles are steady and the dis-integrable factor is very low. This time - I used a wire-mesh which I bought from a stationary shop. Something that is used as paper files.

This is the final product. The bottles are stuffed first with moss to hold the soil from washed away when watering, The plants which I totally found worthy are those which are excellently hardy and able to handle small root space for growth.

These are the ones I recommend:

1) Wandering Jew - Tradescantia Zebrina
2) Basket Plant - Callisia fragrans or Spironema fragrans
3) Bird Nest Fern - Asplenium nidus
4) Trailing Watermelon Begonia - Pellonia Repens
5) Martin Mystery Begonia
6) Dorontheanthus Mezzo Trailing Red or Livingstone Daisy
7) Goose-foot plant - Syngonium podophyllum

These are doing strong for these couple of months now. I'm glad that I had changed the concept here. The plants too are doing OK, except for the Jewel of Opar - it never seemed to pick-up in this collection.
The birds ornaments adds colour and the final touch in this piece.

I doubt you would notice the recycle bottles. Hope this would inspire to you work on with these recycle items to keep our earth greener.