When one of my more robust Hippeastrums bloomed, I didn’t pay much attention to the seed pod. And months later, little Hippeastrum plants started springing up in random pots in the greenhouse. I realized then that maybe these plants are that difficult to grow from seed, so I went online and found some seeds for a rare species, H. mandonii. Two of the seeds germinated and I ended up with two strong seedlings.

Since then, however, the plants have gone through strange phases. The main bulbs both died off, but there were several offsets all around them. However, the offsets stayed dinky for a long time. This year, one pot seems ful of dead-looking offsets. I repotted them into new soil and cleaned them up a bit, but they still haven’t leafed out green at all. The second pot, however, is very much alive and well.

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My 2020 plans for these plants are to baby them a bit more and hope to coax greater growth and the grand prize, flowers! I imagine flowers are still at least two years away, but from what I’ve seen, they are worth waiting for…