Amaryllis is a Greek word, meaning "sparkle. It was often referred to as Hippeastrum, due to the genus it belongs to.

Hippeastrum is also a Greek word for "horseman's star." Before the flowers are opened, they look like horse's ear and the blossoms look like six-pointed stars.

From what I read, it takes 2 weeks to 3 months, after being potted for the flowers to bloom. I planted mine about 4 or 5 weeks ago. It's the yearly wait for the first sign of growth to appear, then watch them grow taller each day.

It was always a joy to find the buds slowly opened up and watch them grow into full blooms.

I try to plant one or two Amaryllis from bulbs each year. I have tried the less expensive, more common bulbs, bought at any stores, and the really unusual and expensive from catalogs.

This year I bought 2 kits, at about $5 each at the Home Depot. Each kit came with 1 bulb, 1 container and 1 compacted disc of dry soil, that expanded after adding warm water.