Bulbs species that grow well in the Deep South (Part 1)

It is encouraging to see that professional gardeners, people who landscape commercial buildings, have been using more agapanthus in our area.  This is called the "blue lily of the Nile", and has both white-and purple- flowered forms in addition to blue.  These are robust plants, producing flowers in summer on three-foot stems.  There are some dwarf forms available for other landscape uses or for containers.  These plants do better in partial shade than under our intense sunlight.  After about five years (in a good location) the plants will become overcrowded; divide them and share with your neighbors.  Agapanthus is a hardy plant that is seldom frozen in the Deep South.

Amaryllis ( or Hippeastrum) differs from tulips and other periodic bulbs in that it has no built-in life span, but is theoretically immortal.  These bulbs are composed of fleshy bases of large, strap-shaped leaves and a conical basal plate, sometimes with dried, but functional roots.  Left to its own devices the amaryllis is evergreen.  In the growth cycle of the bulb, there are four-leaf increments produced, with the bases of three leaves completely surrounding the basal plate and short stem.  The base of the fourth leaf in each growth unit only partially surrounds these parts.  The flower bud begins in the axil of this fourth leaf.  This develops within the bulb and emerges later in response to some unknown stimuli.  A large amaryllis (around 3 or 4 inches in diameter) may have several of these potential flowers, ready to emerge when things are right.  
 Amaryllis that you see at the garden center are usually hybrids that originated in England many years ago from several South American species, sent there by plant explorers back in the heyday of that activity.  Dutch bulb growers, having long experience with tulips, bought the hybrids from the English firms and began exporting what is called the Dutch amaryllis.  Dutch growers began large-scale production of amaryllis bulbs in South Africa.  You can find these South African bulbs for sale in the fall, ready to bloom at Christmas time in our area.  This is because they were grown in the southern hemisphere, where Christmas is in the spring.  After the first year the bulbs will reset their internal clock and begin blooming during our spring rather than in the South African Spring.  Dutch amaryllis hybrids produce massive scapes (flowering stems of bulbs), usually with four flowers.  

Until now, we have been talking about the Dutch hybrids.  The amaryllis species offers a range of flower forms, colors and sizes.  The first known amaryllis hybrid (Amaryllis x Johnsonii) used to be common in the humid South and was known as St. Joseph's lily, probably because it usually bloomed in mid-March outdoors, near St. Joseph's feast day.  Several untimely hard freezes over the past twenty years have made it a a rare plant here in the South.

Most amaryllis bulbs will survive cold snaps if they are well mulched.  In colder areas, they should be taken up in the late fall and stored cool and dry until the danger of temperatures below about 25 F is over.....(to be continued)