Hello Amaryllis

I've been enjoying the wonderful spectacle of emerging amaryllis flowers from a bulb my sister brought with her for my birthday in December. The flower-heads are so heavy, without support, the stalks can just snap off - but when that happened to one of the stalks, I got to enjoy the flowers in two rooms - one bunch in my living-room, and the other in a vase on the kitchen table.

When I read Fran's post about her beautiful amaryllis and the lessons she has learnt from watching it grow, I was reminded of my first encounter with these remarkable plants. After a summer working in Holland, one of the parting gifts my summer-boyfriend gave me was a huge, ugly bulb, with no wrapping, no indication as to what it should look like. Of course, it wasn't strictly legal to bring it back into Ireland, but I did nevertheless. I followed his instructions, and the amazement with which my family and I watched the burgeoning flower was incredible. They are commonplace now, but then they were something unknown in these parts, and it was such a wonderful gift.

This is such a wonderful gift. I just want to say Hello to my amaryllis. Hello to Spring. The weekend was about Goodbyes. This is Hello.