Blooming Hippeastrum

EVERY corner of the garden is sopping. The glare is feeble and the colour has drained from everything apart from some frosted hydrangea blooms and chrome yellow phormiums; pale beacons among the expanding brown and green.

They remind me of streetlamps in fog. Nothing moves in the persistent drizzle, nothing stirs anywhere! In desperation I reflect on the only urgency over the coming days; the removal of fallen and decaying leaves from gutters, drains and pond, along with potting a pair of Hippeastrum bulbs (Amaryllis) sourced from Aldi across the road.

Why do so many fail to bring these into bloom the year after purchase? These over-sized bulbs are usually found in garden outlets in the run-up to Christmas; huge fattened things, some as large as swede turnips (and weighing almost as much) either stuffed into ridiculously small pots containing just a fist-full of compost, or displayed heaped together, one on top of another in spacious brown wicker baskets.