Last fall I brought a hibiscus plant that I had outdoors on the patio into the house. Years ago, I had not had any luck trying to overwinter a hibiscus indoors, but I decided to try again. This one bloomed for a while after bringing it in. As we entered winter it didn't have any more flowers, but the plant still seemed healthy. When I returned from my last trip to Mexico in March I saw that the hibiscus had a lot of buds. Two days ago, one of those buds opened, and yesterday two more opened.
Shortly before Thanksgiving of 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, I received a package from my sister-in-law in Columbus. She had sent me a planter of amaryllis bulbs. For a couple of months the bulbs did not sprout. I thought that they must have frozen during delivery. I was ready to throw them out when suddenly foliage appeared and later flower stalks. It bloomed much later than it was supposed to, but the flowers were beautiful.
In the summer I transplanted the amaryllis to a larger pot, and let it sit outside. As fall approached I cut off the leaves, and brought the pot into the garage. The directions said to let the bulbs rest in a cool, dark place. I didn't know if the garage had been dark enough, and I didn't know if I had let the bulbs rest long enough when I brought the pot into the house in mid-October before I left for Mexico. When I returned for the holidays there was still no sign of life. While I was in Mexico again for my January / February trip, my friend Frank who house-sits for me wrote that it was sprouting leaves. Shortly after returning I noticed that it had developed two flower stalks. The same time that the hibiscus flowered, the buds of the amaryllis opened.
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