Here's a plant you don't see often. I was fortunate enough to buy a large crowded pot of them from a former Fairchild Garden curator who was moving to Michigan.
The butterfly amaryllis, Hippeastrum papilio, is not technically an amaryllis since it's native to Brazil and all such South American bulbs are in the Hippeastrum genus; Amaryllis are native to Africa. But, as you probably realize, they are both are in the Amaryllidaceae family.
To my mind, these blooms are way more sophisticated than the gaudy Dutch amaryllis, as cheerful as they are. I love the lime green center and the maroon outline of the petals. The only drawback is that the flowers don't open as fully as commercial amaryllis.
I'm still figuring out the best light for them, but they seem to be happy in either bright sunlight or dappled shade. And they didn't mind the cold snap, either.
Dwindling Societies
-
I stepped out of the village hall and into the dark night. It had been a
tough 90 minutes; an hour of a fairly lousy speaker rambling on about
spring flo...
3 days ago