I Bought Myself a Bouquet

I took my daughter back to college a week ago and stopped at Atkins, a great produce market in Amherst. Of course instead of buying vegetables i bought a bouquet of pink striped amaryllis, a huge bouquet of three stems with many flowers on each stem. Only $9 for the whole bouquet.
I have had wonderful fun photographing these flowers everyday all week long. Of course the bouquet changes each day as new flowers open and others mature.
Today there is only one perfect bloom left and I think I will destroy it scanning it on my flat bed scanner. A week of entertainment for $9, less than the price of a movie or even a cheap restaurant meal.

Find of the Day:

Doesn't this pretty necklace look like a flower? I am constantly amazed by the creativity of artists. This necklace is made by a fabric artist in England but can be purchased easily from her Etsy shop Tinctory. It is made from off white silk smocked with white cotten thread. A beautiful new use for a traditional sewing technique.

Amaryllis

A night without snow. I still need sustenance from the cold and noticed that my amaryllis bulbs are beginning to send up their stalks. I never tire of these amazing voluptuous blooms. They are now available in dozens of colors from the pure reds to pale greens and whites, stripes and variegations, singles, doubles and even miniatures. I have never seen an amaryllis that was not beautiful.

Amaryllis are very easy to grow when you start with a new bulb. You just pot it up in normal potting soil with the throat bare and give it a little water occasionally. Not too much water or you may get leaves but no flower. A little bottom heat can help too.

On the other hand there are many different ideas on how to hold the plants over to the next year and get them to flower again. The most common approach is to water regularly and fertilize heavily after flowering and through the summer. Then in the fall withhold water and let the bulb die back. Then begin watering lightly til the new flower bud emerges. This approach works but I have never had the bulb produce as many big flowers as the the first year.

I have also read to put the bulbs into the ground in late spring when frosts are over and repot in the fall to get big fat bulbs and many flowers. I tried this one year but forgot to dig them up in the fall so all I can tell you is that amaryllis are definitely not hardy through a New Hampshire winter.

Find of the Day:

Wow talk about dramatic and elegant, who would want to wash with this soap? I just want to look at it.

But it is made with olive oil and other natural oils to make your skin soft and healthy. Scented of black licorice.

From Savor on Etsy.