You'll know this flowering houseplant as either Hippeastrum or Amaryllis. It's a popular houseplant over the Winter festive holidays and the bulb is often sold by itself for you to take home and plant up.
It will flower a month or so after the bulb sprouts and the gigantic blooms will last for a few weeks. Typically the modern hybrids are prolific bloomers and it's normal for a second flush of flowers to appear a few weeks later. Care is easy and straight forward, even for beginners. More experienced owners will be able to care for their plants and get them to rebloom the flowering year.
The modern day Hippeastrum / Amaryllis is a potted plant that has been cultivated so it will grow indoors and bloom in the Winter months, which is something natural plants won't do.
The debate about the proper name of this plant, has raged on for centuries (literally) and the eventual winner was Hippeastrum. It took until 1987 to basically decide how it should be named.
Although these plants have now been in the genus hippeastrum for almost 40 years it's still common to find people calling Hippeastrum, "Amaryllis". It doesn't really matter what you decide to call it because the majority of people will know what plant you're talking about.
How do you pronounce Hippeastrum and Amaryllis correctly? Say:
Hip-ee-AS-trum and Am-uh-RIL-lis
Although incredibly showy, beautiful and impressive they're normally very expensive to buy. Compared to other Winter indoor flowering bulbs you can get for a fraction of the cost, such as Hyacinths and indoor daffodils they may seem poor value.
However there is no doubt Hippeastrum are true show stoppers and because they're "reusable" they can repay the initial investment over several years.
Hippeastrum that are sold as indoor plants are often hybrid crosses between Hippeastrum papilio, Hippeastrum vittatum, Hippeastrum reginae and Hippeastrum reticulatum (plus others). The aim was to capture the best parts of each, and many will agree the current cultivars are works of art.
After flowering has finished the bulbs should be kept and allowed to build their energy reserves for the following year. In this way they can be permanent Winter / Spring house guests.
A more extensive guide on how to keep your hippeastrum flowering year after year can be found further down in this article.
How to Start up a new Bulb?
If you want to know how to get your new bulb growing, skip here.
There are two general rules when it comes to successfully growing an amazing looking Hippeastrum. Firstly do not confuse it with the Gardeners Amaryllis which needs to be grown outdoors. This tends to have a smaller bulb and will typically be labeled as "Amaryllis belladonna".
Secondly, the size of the bulb is directly proportional to the size and number of flowering stalks. A large, heavy bulb may produce three flowering stalks where as a smaller one perhaps only one. Basically if you have the choice, always buy the biggest bulb you can find.
There is big and then there is this bulb. This one is a beast even by normal Hippeastrum standards. I couldn't even hold this super large bulb properly in my hand.
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While in flower, provide bright light Bright light Too little light during the flowering period will result in the stalks bending towards light sources and increasing the chances of it tipping over.
If you're keeping it after flowering, maintain the bright light and try and add some sun. The more light you can provide the more energy the plant will build into the bulb which means a more impressive display the following year.
What I do
It's too cold to put the plant outside once flowering is over, but to maximise the light potential I put my plant outside when Spring arrives and leave it out there until Autumn.
Try not to move it from a bright location to one with intense sunlight as this could shock the plant or burn the leaves. Although they can deal with a lot of full sun, they may need a few weeks of adjustment first.
If you've brought a bulb in the dormant state you want to water just enough to ensure the soil is evenly moist then wait until growth starts before watering again.
It's so easy to cause a Hippeastrum and Amaryllis bulb to rot from overwatering so don't ever let the bulb "sit" in water at anytime.
When "actively growing" (so when the leaves have fully emerged) and the temperature is warm, aim to keep the soil moist for most of the time. Reduce watering as you head towards Autumn / Fall as the cooler night time temperatures can again encourage rot to set in.
The plant is not fussy about humidity. But remember that very humid locations will need less watering overall than locations which have lower humidity levels because the potting soil will take longer to dry out.
Only feed when the flowers have faded and the leaf straps have fully emerged from the plant itself (this usually happens as the blooms start to go over).
Try and feed every couple of weeks or so during the Summer and stop just before Autumn / Fall begins. This will help the bulb to "fatten" up, ready for it to create some speculator blooms early the following year.
When you first get your Hippeastrum, if it's not already in bloom or showing flowering shoots then you need a warm location to get things moving. Warmth along with a little moisture will awaken a dormant bulb and then if you keep it warm you'll have flowering shoots heading for the ceiling in no time.
If you keep the same warmth when the flower buds are due to open and immediately after this, then the flowering period will be very short. So if you want to slow the overall growth (you may be hoping to get it to bloom for a certain date for example) or want to prolong the life of the flowers once they've opened up fully, then cool things down.
Hippeastrum or Amaryllis flowers come in almost countless colors and patterns. This one is a brilliant red with contrasting white sections creating a beautiful impact. - Photo by Daniel Macher.
Just like a bunch of cut flowers you buy from a shop they'll last longer if placed out of direct sunlight and in a cooler room. With that said it doesn't want "cold" conditions and frost must be avoided at all costs.
A Hippeastrum bulb will rot easily if over watered or when exposed to even a mild freeze. Therefore don't put it outside in Winter or keep it outside when the temperatures start to dip in Autumn/Fall.
They're fine in pretty small containers, so repotting your Hippeastrum is only needed if the original pot is extremely small to start with, the existing potting medium has broken down or the plant has produced so many offsets that it needs more space. There is no need to repot each year or to even remove the bulb from the existing pot during the rest period.
If you ever do repot, ensure the new container is only a little bigger than the previous one and that you use a good quality compost. Remember the bulb only needs to be half covered as full coverage will increase the chances of it rotting.
Hippeastrum will produce offsets quite often which is the good news. The bad news is that they take a very long time to reach a really good size, which is required before they will produce flowers of their own. Often it's best to leave the offsets next to the parent plant for several years.
Eventually, they will be big enough to be separated from the parent bulb and grown on by themselves. To do this remove the entire plant from the container and gently remove the offset(s). By this point it will have some of its own roots too, so carefully detangle them and try to make sure the offset takes some with it when separated,
You should easily have flowers well within two months of the plant waking from the dormancy period. Warm temperatures will quicken the speed of growth massively.
The flowers will often fade between a couple of weeks up to a month after first opening. Over the following months, green strap like leaves will fully grow and extend from the bulb. These will eventually die back as Autumn / Fall arrives, things get cooler or if you reduce watering.
Hippeastrum and Amaryllis grow to different sizes and heights so it's difficult to give exact specifications. Sometimes the flowering stalk is very tall approaching 75cm / 30in with huge dinner plate blooms that need support to keep them upright.
Other times they're quite compact and dainty and won't need any assistance to keep them upright. Always check the tags or labels that come with the plants for more precise guidance.
Hippeastrum is one houseplant that doesn't disappoint when it comes to attention grabbing flowers. Bold, huge and varied. They will capture passersby and will win over the hearts of mortal enemies (maybe).
This is a truly photogenic houseplant, Amaryllis blooms are possibly the most showy of any indoor plant. Photo by Pimpinellus
It's common to get four or five of these showy flowers per main flower stalk or stem. Of which there are often one or two, if the bulb is quite small or still young then there will likely only be one flower stem. Bigger bulbs will typically produce the greatest number of flower stalks.
Each flower is often between 13-20cm / 5-8in across coming in many different colors and patterns. They're usually funnel shaped and this can be seen clearly with the single varieties, they also come in a double form.
The "traditional" Hippeastrum typically has six petals although there are more introductions all the time with different looks and shapes that differ greatly from the "traditional" style.
There are toxic compounds within this plant. Although they're sparse in the stem, leaves and flowers, they're quite concentrated in the bulb. You should be careful if you've inquisitive pets.
There is a yearly cycle these plants go through. You'll enter this cycle at some point when you acquire your Hippeastrum, for most people it's the dormant bulb stage so we'll start here.
The large bulbs are often brought as festive gifts in their dormant state which can then be "awoken" to flower in late Winter or early Spring.
Dormant Bulb - A dormant bulb will be as the name sounds, "dormant". They'll be no growth of any kind although parts may appear green or there may be very tiny shoot tips at the neck of the bulb.
At this stage all you need to do is "wake" the bulb. Once you do so, it should be in flower within two months. So if the flowering time is something you want to plan for, consider when you do the next bit carefully.
Waking the Bulb - The bulb should be planted in good quality compost with only the bottom half of the bulb actually covered (an example of this can be seen in the photo below).
Hippeastrum plant bulbs have a paper like protective dry outer layer and a green fleshy inner section thats roughly the size of a tennis ball.
Water it well once and then bring indoors to a warm semi bright spot. This will awaken the plant and a few leaves and the flower stalk(s) will start to grow from the top of the bulb over the next month or so.
Don't keep watering the plant at this stage or it will rot. That first original watering is all that is needed until the flower stalk(s) is clearly visible an inch or so above the bulb at which point aim to keep the soil just moist.
Flowering - Several weeks later, the flower stem will grow rapidly before eventually opening. Often one stem will flower fully and when that fades the following ones will start their display. Therefore although each bloom is quite short lived the display will last for several weeks, possibly a month or longer.
Although they only last a short time, the flowers will certainly draw attention. They can be top heavy too, so be sure to put them in a heavy pot to prevent them tipping over. Photo by Arpingstone
Leaf Growth - After the flowering period is over you can remove the spent flowers. Leave the green flowering stalk. The leaves which will have already started to show themselves will now fully emerge and grow out.
Expect between two to seven leaves that should be long-lasting. They will grow to around 30 - 90 cm / 12 - 36 inches long and be strap like.
As far as houseplants go, they aren't especially showy or attractive, so if you don't want the plant around your home at this stage you can move it outdoors (providing all danger of frost has passed and you're well into Spring). Water well and feed at regular intervals over the Spring and Summer months.
Triggering Dormancy - Just like the Amaryllis growing outdoors, a period of dormancy is needed to trigger flowering. At the end of Summer or during Autumn/Fall reduce watering. If the plant is outside this will cause the leaves to start yellowing. Eventually all that will be left is the odd stray leaf or just the bulb itself which is what you want.
At this stage move to a cool but frost free place for around a month or two. The soil needs to be dry so don't water at all during this time or provide warmth, doing this can can prevent or break the dormancy period. After this "rest", the cycle is complete and can be started again as detailed above.
Rotting Amaryllis / Hippeastrum Bulb.
Exposure to frost or overwatered, will cause rot to set in. When coming to water your plant, if there is any doubt that the soil might be moist already it's best not to risk it. A heavily rotten bulb is normally the end of the line for your plant, although any offsets might be salvageable.
The flower stalk has gone yellow.
After flowering, the flower stalks will eventually start to go yellow and die. Don't be in a hurry to cut them off as the energy is going back into the bulb, although when all of the green has gone you should remove them.
No flowers on my Amaryllis.
The bulb is either too young, too small or the growth cycle has not been followed correctly. If you break dormancy too early, the flowering might not start and you could just get the strap leaves growing again.
Floppy or lanky leaves.
Unfortunately this is quite common when temperatures swing between hot and cold and vice versa.
Rapid temperature swings can cause the leaves and flowering stem to flop over like this.
Classically this occurs in Winter; during the cold days we tend to have a fire on or the central heating is on and heating our living areas and at night we retreat to our bedrooms where the living areas rapidly cool.
The leaves / flowering stalk will recover but consider providing some structure support and try to prevent the extreme swings in temperature.
My Amaryllis / Hippeastrum keeps falling over.
Many Hippeastrum have been bred to produce amazing blooms that they wouldn't naturally, some of which are very large and heavy.
Many of these varieties will need some support to stop them tipping over, so consider inserting a wooden or plastic stick to support the flowering stem. If it does topple, you risk it snapping and ruining your hard work so if there is any concern get that support in place.
If the plant is in a lightweight container, the entire thing could fall over. A heavy container or outer cache pot can keep things steady.
Over the last 20 years, Tom has successfully owned hundreds of houseplants and is always happy to share knowledge and lend his horticulture skills to those in need. He is the leading content writer for the Ourhouseplants Team.
