Amaryllis

Rating:
Summary: Stunningly Beautiful and Truly Informative.
Review: I am an avid grower of amaryllis and have been collecting every article and tip I could find on this lovely bulb for over 10 years. There has been no book exclusively on the amaryllis available. I was skeptical that a book just 95 pages long, including the extensive bibliography, could fill the gap. Starr Ockenga's book will not need another to supplement it. The photographs are extrordinary. Her instructions for planting are thorough. For culture of the bulb she presents prevailing wisdom and states what she herself did, allowing the reader to choose their own course. I was impressed that a beautiful garden book included a pests and diseases page. One minor quibble is that the Glossary of Hippeastrum Hybrids has closely cropped photos. This gives wonderful color depiction but very little info as to how the overall shape and size of the flower as it relates to the plant. I have purchased a second copy of the book to donate to my local library.

Rating:
Summary: With invaluable, practical growing tips
Review: This specialized gardening guide provides a set of full-color photos of different varieties of amaryllis, and represents the author's world journey in an effort to acquire as many varieties as amaryllis as she could. She grew each plant herself, documenting its growth pattern, blooms, and demise: Amaryllis is thus far more than a picturebook, providing gardeners with invaluable, practical growing tips.

Rating:
Summary: Splendid Beauty!
Review: What a terrific book! It's so much more than the gorgeous photographs for which the author is well-known -- it has lots of information on cultivation and propagation plus there is a glossary with pictures of 96 different hybrids complete with growing information (type, height/flower size and time from planting until flowering). The author also includes a history of the cultivation of amaryllis which is very interesting -- she documents descriptions and instructions for growing beginning with Milton in 1637 through the Victorian and Edwardian periods to today. She describes the three main sources of bulbs (African, Dutch and South American) and discusses both older varieties and newer cultivars including the miniatures and those with double flowers.

Amaryllis come in a large variety of patterns within a color range consisting of red, white, pink and, more recently, peach, pale green, yellow and orange. Ockenga provides beautiful, lyrical descriptions: "'Cinderella' boasts kitten whiskers drawn on an upturned face, 'Charisma' is speckled with cranberry dots that fade to a creamy background, while 'Elvas' and 'Allure' seem splashed with the juice of sweet cherries."

The book concludes with a list of suppliers (with web addresses) and an extensive bibliography. This is a great book for anyone interested in growing amaryllis, particularily given that there is nothing else like it on the market today. Note, however, that Ockenga grows her amaryllis in pots in her greenhouse in New York; she includes information on growing amaryllis in the ground but the bulk of the growing information is with regard to pot-grown bulbs. Much of this is generic to both kinds of cultivation, however, as is the information on pests and diseases, feeding and watering schedules, etc. This is, quite simply, a wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: Splendid Beauty!
Review: What a terrific book! It's so much more than the gorgeous photographs for which the author is well-known -- it has lots of information on cultivation and propagation plus there is a glossary with pictures of 96 different hybrids complete with growing information (type, height/flower size and time from planting until flowering). The author also includes a history of the cultivation of amaryllis which is very interesting -- she documents descriptions and instructions for growing beginning with Milton in 1637 through the Victorian and Edwardian periods to today. She describes the three main sources of bulbs (African, Dutch and South American) and discusses both older varieties and newer cultivars including the miniatures and those with double flowers.

Amaryllis come in a large variety of patterns within a color range consisting of red, white, pink and, more recently, peach, pale green, yellow and orange. Ockenga provides beautiful, lyrical descriptions: "'Cinderella' boasts kitten whiskers drawn on an upturned face, 'Charisma' is speckled with cranberry dots that fade to a creamy background, while 'Elvas' and 'Allure' seem splashed with the juice of sweet cherries."

The book concludes with a list of suppliers (with web addresses) and an extensive bibliography. This is a great book for anyone interested in growing amaryllis, particularily given that there is nothing else like it on the market today. Note, however, that Ockenga grows her amaryllis in pots in her greenhouse in New York; she includes information on growing amaryllis in the ground but the bulk of the growing information is with regard to pot-grown bulbs. Much of this is generic to both kinds of cultivation, however, as is the information on pests and diseases, feeding and watering schedules, etc. This is, quite simply, a wonderful book.