Hi Anna, Well....welcome to our world!! I'd say your amaryllis would have been guarantted to bloom in 5 weeks if it had all the optimal conditions, but sitting in a box at room temp for who knows how long wasn't what it needed!! Most of those box kits show up in the stores in October and at that point they have come from the distributor where they have been chilled and just ready to bloom. If they aren't given warmth, water, and a little love within a window of a couple of months...they may say, "Forget it, I'll wait till next year!!". So obviously, your good efforts at Christmastime just arrived too late. BUT...there is good news!! Put that bulb outside where it can soak up the sun and keep it watered (not soaking) with 1/2 strength Miracle Gro (or a similar water based fertilizer). Those leaves should grow nice and green and STRONG and be able to support themselves! Then...around late August (you are getting a late start!!) stop watering and turn the pot on its side where the rain can't hit the soil. Those nice leaves should yellow up and shrivel. At that point, cut them back to the neck of the bulb and put the bulb in the pot somewhere where the temp will be above freezing for the next 8 weeks. Bring it out...8 weeks later, give it some water and warmth, (and sunlight if possible...although winter dreariness might do) and you may be rewarded with blooms. Since it's had a rough first year, just be patient with it...it might go on its natural cycle and bloom in the spring. As soon as it's warm enough (April/May) put it outside so it can soak up the benefits. You need to build that bulb back up so that it will reward you with blooms! GOOD LUCK...and be patient!! Kristi

You're welcome Kate! I fell in love with a photo of a huge brugmansia "tree" when a friend of mine in Houston was writing a book on tropical plants in about 1994. He sent me some cuttings to start here in the Seattle area. I remember calling him just thrilled when I had roots. He told me the scraps he'd had left over from sending cuttings to me were thrown in the front garden behind shrubs and were already 6 feet tall -- without even being planted. Several of my friends own nurseries in this area and after hearing "brugmansia/brugmansia/brugmansia/blah blah blah," they started growing or ordering them. Now I can buy them every spring without going through the mail order ordeal. Sometimes they winter over, but they might not bloom until August when we finally get heat. Anyway, the love affair hasn't ended and I've spent a lot of time looking at them and observing the blooming process. That same friend moved to Florida (Fort Pierce), a little south of you and wrote a book on palms.

sorry folks, this was my mistake - I was searching for Lantana advice and I did not realize that this post was from MAY "2005" and not MAY "2006", so when I did not notice the old date, I posed a question on it yesterday (May 16 "2006"). When I realized how old this thread was I opened a new thread and posed the question again as I didn't think this one would pop up in the newer/recent topics..and now I have two of the same thing..sorry!!

White flowered forms are nearly impossible to find.....and very limited as to selection. 'Bressingham White' is about the only one commonly offered and not that often. And all the rest are pink, in varying shade, but still pink. I was at a new client's today with a robust if somewhat sun stressed patch of bergenia that didn't appear to have any blooms. But they were there in all their unpleasant pink glory, just artfully hidden by the large foliage :-)