Well, this is a first for me. My Hippeastrum, Amaryllis are all sending up second and third flowering buds, weeks after they first bloomed.

My bulbs usually make it into another winter and will sometimes flower again in the summer when outside. I have also had them send up two flowering stems simultaneously. This is different however, so I am asking myself what I have done differently. ‘Mont Blanc’ opened its first bloom on Christmas Day and was over a couple of weeks later. ‘Gervase’ and ‘Dancing Queen’ both bloomed at the same time in the middle  of January and I just cut off the first of two flowering stems of ‘Gervase’ and the first and only of ‘Dancing Queen’. Now all three have visible flowering buds emerging again.

All of these Amaryllis succumbed to Fungus Gnats and all received liberal dosings of Hydrogen Peroxide solution. However I think the real difference has been when I fertilized them. I usually wait until the bulb has flowered and leaves emerge before starting fertilizer. This time I gave them all 20-20-20 slow release right from when I planted them. I must assume that the extra food was able to replenish the bulb enough that it formed new buds. I may be wrong and maybe the buds have been in the bulb all along but I really would like to know. The bulbs have shrunk a little and the exterior is softer so obviously much of the food store has been used but I am very curious to know if these bulbs have developed new buds while still flowering. The flowering buds are easily distinguishable from leaves as they are fatter and each side is convex.

From what I have read Amaryllis can have two to three blooming cycles each year so this behavior may well be normal but I have not been fortunate enough to have this many re-bloom at once and within the indoor ‘winter’ season.  I am quite thrilled but hope they don’t drain themselves completely as I would like to keep them all for next year. Once these blooms are over I will liberally fertilize again and move into a slightly less sunny window where the leaves can work away at replenishing the bulbs. Once the greenhouse is warm enough they will be placed in there to rest and rejuvenate all summer until late August when they will dry out and the cycle will start over again.

I would be most interested to know how many cycles of blooming others achieve with their Hippeastrum, Amaryllis.