Ember Orange Amaryllis Bulbs — Double Burnt-Orange with Gold Tips

Burnt orange rather than tangerine. There is a brown undertone in it that keeps the color from going cheap, and the gold tips catch light the way the others only suggest. Because the petals are so numerous the flower holds a globe shape instead of opening flat, so it photographs well from any side.

What you get

• One bulb per count ordered, 26/28 cm circumference — large enough to throw two stems.
• Thick petals — this is the double that travels best as a cut flower and lasts longest out of soil.
• Two stems, four to six blooms each, opening in sequence so a single bulb flowers for five or six weeks.
• Boxed in kraft card with a planting card, not loose in a mailer.

Planting

• Pot: a 6–7 in pot per bulb, two-thirds soil, one-third bulb above the rim — amaryllis sulk when they are buried.
• Water: soak once at planting, then keep the mix just damp. Wet soil around the bulb is the usual reason a big bulb never opens.
• Light: Full sun in winter, but shade the stems from afternoon heat — a south or west window, or a grow light for 12 hours a day.
• Root in the dark first: 2–3 weeks in a cool, darkish room gets roots down before the stem runs up.
• Stake it early. A double this heavy leans, and it will not straighten again once the flowers open.
• Orange fades fastest of any color here. Keep it out of a south-facing window in a warm room.

After the flowers

• Cut stems hold ten days in fresh water with the ends re-cut at an angle.
• Feed with a low-nitrogen bulb fertilizer after flowering.

Bulbs ship dormant and firm, 26/28 cm around, boxed to protect the nose. Orders leave in 5–7 working days; 8–25 working days in transit. Petal color shifts a little with light and temperature — the cooler the room, the deeper the bloom.