Monty’s month

and, with the right regime, will flower for successive years, amaryllis always flower best in their first year, so I always plant some fresh bulbs every autumn. These are unlikely to flower by Christmas – they need to be planted a month earlier for that – but will add brilliant colour as house plants in January and February.

The bulbs are huge and should sit no more than half-submerged, their roots down in the soil, but the bulb itself mostly exposed to the air. The compost should be gritty with excellent drainage and substantial enough to balance the eventual two- or even three-foot tall, stout flower stem topped by the huge trumpet blooms – which is why I like alpine pots that are far less likely to topple over. However, they flower best when constricted, so if you can fit more than one bulb in a pot – three tends to work better than two – do so, otherwise use a pot that has no more than an inch of compost around the bulb.

Water and place the bulbs somewhere warm and light. A greenhouse is ideal but a bright windowsill works well. They should flower about six to eight weeks after potting up. The flowers will last longer if placed out of direct light and somewhere cool rather than above a radiator.

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