Coming soon to a tree grove near you: Hippeastrum

Beneath the canopy of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Live Oak in the Richard T. Bowers Historic Tree Grove, a riot of color is preparing itself to emerge. A lush bed

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of Hippeastrum has started putting up flower spikes and soon will be a showy wash of huge orange flowers. Once they start blooming we’ll have a consistent  patch of bright color that will last about a month until the last blooms finish.

The rest of the year these plants will leave behind gorgeous green foliage but I am always struck by their beauty each spring. Totally unexpected, they throw their stalks of flowers into the air in mid-February and are blooming like champs by the first day of March. They may not be butterfly flowers, but they are certainly gardener-friendly.

More on Hippeastrum: Hippeastrum, from the Greek for "horseman's star" and now also known as knight's star are popularly, but erroneously, known as Amaryllis. Amaryllis is in fact a monotypic genus (only one species) from Africa that look similar to hippeastrums but have no leaves.

Hippeastrum is a commonly sold bulbous plant that readily grows in pots and indoors. There are around 70-75 species of hippeastrums available on the market, but somehow I favor these brilliant orange ones. Certainly they are not the most showy cultivar but their color is eye-catching and remarkable.