This will be the last amaryllis post of 2021, as the flowers are beginning to fade.
But they kept me company through our snowy February and saw me through to the earliest signs of Spring. After a rainy close to February, last week was sunny and this week promises some days of sun and actual warmth, capped off by our Spring forward on the 14th. The days are gaining light at both sunrise and sunset, a happy development indeed.
The second pod of flowers opened toward the end of last week and it’s delivered five pretty flowers. These blooms, the steadily melting snow, the quickening pace of vaccines in the U.S., and some sunny days have lifted my spirits.
That’s happy!
This year’s amaryllis is a candy-striped pink and white flower. Two pods emerged and the first had three flowers. Tucked behind these beauties is another pod that looks ready to bloom as the week closes out.
Over the last few days, the first three flowers have emerged on my plant and the pink and white striped flowers are lovely when they greet me in the morning.
This flower is a bright spot in the midst of my cold and snowy February and I am grateful for its daily reminder to keep the faith.
In this Groundhog Day of a pandemic year, the amaryllis is evidence that small change does happen. Week to week, the growth is sure and steady.
An amaryllis bulb usually sees me through the darkest part of the Winter. This year’s bulb is assigned that task and is also sustaining me as I wait for my turn at a vaccine. The bulb’s steady weekly progress reminds me that a mixture of hope and patience will see me through. These days, that's an important lesson.
As I wait out the days of my quarantine, it seems fitting that the amaryllis waits with me, each of us marking the day with a bit more daylight to soak up.
By the end of this week, we’ll be gaining an extra minute of daylight in the morning and the evening and I find that though tespecially cheering. I expect that the amaryllis feels the same way.
Tomorrow is Inauguration Day; the day after that my boy returns to his college. Amidst it all, a pandemic rages on, seemingly unabated. I am teaching in a hybrid learning model that is the hardest teaching I have every done, work that leaves me exhausted in body, mind, and soul. There is a lot on my mind this month and this week seems to be filled especially with an expectancy that feels enormous.
January has proven itself to be full of events and in the midst of all that, I nearly lost sight of the weekly amaryllis photo. But here is my bulb showing a bit of a green stem if you look closely.
Just one week in to its planting, the amaryllis is still getting used to its pot. There is probably a metaphor in that information but I’m busily gearing up for a return to teaching and so it will take me a bit to make sense of it all.
For Christmas, T gave me an amaryllis bulb from Burpee Seed Company. It is one of my most favorite traditions to plant this flower in the cold and dark Winter season. I planted this year’s bulb yesterday. It sits among the happy plants in the Southeast window, where it will soak up all the morning sunlight that comes along.
I watch the bulb daily, always mindful that this stark season is the only way forward to flowers, green grass, and the Summer Solstice light that will be all the more welcome for its comparative shortage during the Winter season.
The amaryllis bulb isn’t just for marking time while I daydream about the arrival of Spring. It reminds me to pause and appreciate this cozy season. And in this time when so much of what seems normal is on pause, I am grateful and glad to have this usual tradition at hand.
