Amaryllis: plant it for Christmas and make it flower again next year
In short: the "amaryllis" sold in autumn is in fact a Hippeastrum, a bulb from South America. Potted between mid-October and early November, it flowers six to eight weeks later, just in time for Christmas. Contrary to a widespread idea, it is not a throwaway plant: with a summer of growth and a few weeks of rest in autumn, the same bulb flowers again every winter for years. The one exception: wax-coated bulbs.
Amaryllis or Hippeastrum? A story of names
Linnaeus gave the name "amaryllis" to bulbs from South Africa and South America, which he placed in the same genus. For more than two centuries, botanists argued over which group the name belonged to. The 1987 International Botanical Congress settled it: the name Amaryllis is reserved for Amaryllis belladonna, a South African plant that flowers at the end of summer, and the South American bulbs are called Hippeastrum (Essex Gardens Trust, 2020).
Hippeastrum roughly means "knight's star", from the Greek hippeus (horseman) and astron (star). The genus has about 90 species, mainly from eastern Brazil and the central and southern Andes (Peru, Bolivia, Argentina), with a few reaching Mexico and the West Indies. The big flowers sold in garden centres are hybrids derived from about six species, bred in the Netherlands, South Africa, the United States, Japan and Israel (Mahr & Spangenberg, 2025).
In the trade, the name "amaryllis" has stuck to Hippeastrum: it is the one we use in the rest of this article. Both genera belong to the Amaryllidaceae family, like daffodils, snowdrops and Sternbergia (see our article Crocus, colchicum or sternbergia, in French).
Choosing a bulb
- The bigger the bulb, the more flowers. A large bulb can produce two stems, at the same time or one after the other. Each stem usually carries two to six flowers (Mahr & Spangenberg, 2025).
- The bulb should be firm and heavy, with no soft spots or mould. A few dry roots at the base are normal.
- Colours and shapes: red and white dominate, but there are pinks, salmons, striped or edged flowers, doubles and miniatures.
Planting for Christmas flowers
Allow six to eight weeks between planting and flowering, a little longer if the room is cool (RHS, n.d.). For Christmas, plant between mid-October and early November. You can stagger plantings until January to have flowers all winter.
- The pot: only slightly wider than the bulb, 2 to 5 cm more in diameter (Iowa State University Extension, n.d.). Amaryllis flowers better when slightly pot-bound. The pot should be heavy or weighted, as the flower stem is tall.
- The compost: a good-quality, free-draining multipurpose compost.
- The depth: leave half to two-thirds of the bulb above the compost (RHS, n.d.; Iowa State University Extension, n.d.). A bulb buried up to its neck may rot.
- The position: bright and warm, ideally around 21 °C (RHS, n.d.).
- Watering: very little until leaves or a flower stem appear, just enough to keep the compost barely moist. Then water regularly, never leaving water standing in the saucer.
- Turn the pot every two or three days so the stem grows straight, and stake tall varieties.
Once in flower, move the plant to a cooler room, around 15-18 °C: the flowers last longer (RHS, n.d.).
After flowering: making your amaryllis flower again
This is the step almost everyone skips, yet amaryllis is a perennial that can flower for many years. The secret: the leaves that grow after flowering rebuild the bulb's reserves. Without them, no flowers next winter.
January to September: let it grow
- Cut off faded flowers before they set seed, which would exhaust the bulb. Cut the stem at the base when it turns yellow (Johnson, 2021).
- Keep the leaves and put the plant in the brightest spot possible.
- Water regularly and give a balanced liquid fertiliser, weekly according to the RHS, at least monthly according to US universities.
- In summer, after the last frosts (mid-May in Belgium), put the pot outside in the garden or on the terrace, first in partial shade then in sun, without letting it scorch at midday. Watch out for slugs. Bring it in before the first frosts.
Late September to November: the rest period
The bulb does not strictly need a rest to flower again, but a rest period lets you choose when it flowers (Mahr & Spangenberg, 2025). Two methods:
| Method | How | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| "Green" rest (RHS) | Pot in a bright, cool spot (about 13 °C), no more fertiliser, very little water | 8 to 10 weeks |
| "Dry" rest | Watering stopped, yellowing leaves removed, pot in a cool, dark place (about 7-13 °C: cellar, frost-free garage) | 8 to 12 weeks |
Then cut the old leaves back to about ten centimetres above the neck, replace the top few centimetres of compost, bring the plant back into warmth and light and start watering again. Flowers follow four to six weeks later (Johnson, 2021; Mahr & Spangenberg, 2025).
Repot every two or three years, just after flowering, in a pot only slightly bigger (RHS, n.d.).
Why won't my amaryllis flower again?
The RHS gives three main causes: drying the bulb off too early (leaves cut or watering stopped too soon), a plant kept in too much shade and too little water during the summer (RHS, n.d.). In other words, what happens between February and September decides next winter's flowers.
Waxed bulbs: pretty but disposable
More and more bulbs are sold coated in coloured, often glittery wax, and flower without water or soil. They work, because the bulb already contains everything needed for one flowering. But it exhausts itself without being able to rebuild its reserves, and it visibly shrinks. You can peel off the wax and pot it up, but the next flowering is far from guaranteed, and Iowa State University advises against keeping them (Iowa State University Extension, n.d.). Buy them like a bouquet, not like a plant.
Propagating amaryllis
- By offsets: the small bulbs that form beside the main bulb can be separated at repotting, if they have their own roots. They are identical to the parent plant and flower after three or four years (RHS, n.d.).
- By seed: possible, but it takes up to six years to get flowers, and they differ from the parents (RHS, n.d.).
Test yourself
Sources
ASPCA. (n.d.). Amaryllis (Toxic and non-toxic plants). https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/aspca-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/amaryllis
Essex Gardens Trust. (2020, November 20). When is an Amaryllis not an Amaryllis? https://www.essexgardenstrust.org.uk/new-blog/2020/11/20/hippeastrum-or-amaryllis
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. (n.d.). Can I get my waxed amaryllis bulb to rebloom? Yard and Garden. https://yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu/faq/can-i-get-my-waxed-amaryllis-bulb-rebloom
Johnson, K. (2021, December 3). How to take care of amaryllis and get them to rebloom. University of Illinois Extension. https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2021-12-03-how-take-care-amaryllis-and-get-them-rebloom
Mahr, S., & Spangenberg, B. (2025). Amaryllis, Hippeastrum. University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/amaryllis-hippeastrum
Royal Horticultural Society. (n.d.). Hippeastrum: how to grow. RHS. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=118