Our Hippeastrum/Amaryllis flowers are doing the flop. Whether you want to call it a Hippeastrum or an Amaryllis, they both flop. I think it’s because they both have hollow stems and heavy flowers. I read that Tulips flop for the same reason. They’re doing pretty well; the tallest one is up to nearly 30 inches.
The flower as it grows starts to bend in one direction or the other. We saw this a couple of years ago with our first Hippeastrum. In the beginning, we thought turning it one way or the other towards or away from the sunlight or the space heater would make a difference. Looking back on it now, I don’t think it did. We ended up staking it using a zip tie and a wooden dowel.
Sena stakes our new flowers using zip ties and long metal rods topped by a Christmas tree ornaments you stick in the dirt. The effect is comical, and it makes both of us laugh out loud.
I checked around on the web and found articles and YouTube videos about how to fix the Hippeastrum flop. One even suggested using a wire coat hanger. You can do this if you’re handy with tools. Or you could get a Christmas cactus.
We’re not doing wire coat hangers.
Addendum: Sena tried to replace the zip tie on the biggest plant because she’s ambivalent about the look of them. OK, so she’s not ambivalent; she was “bent” on finding a different staking method. So, she cut the zip tie and, wouldn’t you know, that’s a good way to tell if the stem is really hollow. She accidentally cut it open. It started to leak fluid. She quickly applied a Christmas tree ribbon bandage, one with blood red cardinals on it in fact. We hope the wound is not fatal.
Another Addendum: OK here’s the last adddendum. It’s a set of crude drawings meant to show how to pronounce “Hippeastrum.” I’ve previously pointed out there seem to be two ways and I don’t know which one is preferred. If you know, shout it out. This is a trick I got from Svengoolie, the star of his TV show of the same name. You draw cartoons that are clues which are supposed to translate to a real word. Sound it out. Hint for the first picture; it’s from the 1960s.
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