Straight and Tall

In an earlier post, I wrote that I was concerned about my Hippeastrum 'Picotee.' The first flower stalk was injured somehow while still within the bulb, and grew very short and bent, like so:

Previously posted photograph of my first Hippeastrum 'Picotee' flower, with its shortened, curved stalk. Not visible is the deep, grooved injury on one side of the stem (which is facing left in this shot.) I was afraid it was a symptom of some sort of disease.

Picture from a couple of weeks ago, with H. 'Benfica' to the left, the first set of H. 'Picotee' flowers in the center, (the second stalk is visible behind the flowers) and H. 'Apple Blossom' on the right. The scene is flanked by two paintings by my husband, Bob. Unfortunately, we hadn't removed some protective plastic from the painting of the Kestrel on the right, hence the rippled effect.

Well, I needn't have worried. Here is the second stalk, in all its unblemished glory:

This time the stalk is very tall, probably due to stretching, because I kept the plant in a relatively sunless location.

Another view

This is it for Hippeastrum blossoms for a while. Since, I didn't bother to force my other plants, many of them are likely to bloom in spring or summer this year, if at all.