Emaryllis.com - Box Kit Bonanza!

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Box Kit Bonanza!

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Box Kit Bonanza!

Just for fun, let's look at some gift packaged amaryllis for sale in the US of A this '08-
'09 season!

CASE 1: 'Piquant'='Gilmar'

Emaryllis has long known that whether an amaryllis is bought in a box kit or as a dry bulb, mislabeling is always a distinct possibility. This kit, bought at one of the big box stores was sold as 'Piquant' and turned out to be 'Gilmar.' That strikes Emaryllis as odd, since 'Gilmar' is a Brazilian-bred and grown cross, and the box specified Israel as the country of origin for the bulb. First off: Everyone will know how cheap you are with that price printed right on the box!					No claim of bulb size on box, it measured 24 cm. circumference...pretty puny. The sprouting bulb (bought late November) was a bit bruised as it is packed loose, with no company but a hard disc of compressed coir for company. The pot is sans drainage, Emaryllis put a few slices in the bottom with a sharp kitchen knife. Amaryllises require drainage! You are on your own for a saucer.

The coir disc is soaked in warm water, and makes plenty of media. Squeeze out excess moisture, coir is notorious for holding lots of water, which can be a bad thing initially. This bulb had several nice fleshy (live) roots, which presages good performance.					Almost exactly one month later, blooming! Big surprise (not)...the bulb is not 'Piquant,' but rather 'Gilmar.' This is actually a nice switch for a change, as 'Gilmar' was not offered in the dry bulb trade this season. When HD did this switch last year, it represented a bargain price-wise. In the 2008/09 season it's the only game in town.

The verdict: buy! You can get 'Piquant' anytime. Run, do not walk to Home Depot to see if any are left. No guarantees: you could get 'Piquant,' 'Gilmar,' or who knows what. Bulb supplies are never certain, and the boxes are printed up well in advance. Emaryllis doesn't condone under-pricing (someone is not living well to bring you these kits at such low cost); as an American, however, I am socially conditioned to sniff out bargains...					As the plant builds roots, foliage emerges and scapes become taller (16" here) and stronger. The bulb is pacing itself, and has a third scape developing. The true 'Piquant' could never muster such performance from a bulb this small. 'Gilmar' has a striking coloration...and I dare say is more piquant than 'Piquant.'

CASE 2: Rite Aid 'Red Lion'	*	*	*	*

Retail price: $9.99 for a box claiming a bulb in the 24/26 cm. size, it measured 24 cm. Somehow, this looks like one decidedly unsophisticated kit, but perhaps appealing for children. It struck Emaryllis that this was the only living thing for sale in the drugstore. Ponder...					This time we get two small coir discs, and an overly sprouted-out bulb (bought late November) with only a couple of live roots. The thin, terra cotta colored plastic pot has a black interior, and great drainage holes. No saucer, though. No hole to get a peek in the box. It's a total craps-shoot.

Handy carrying handle, nice touch. This bulb would have never made it all the way to Christmas, already pushing scapes against the walls of the carton. Perhaps held at warm temperatures in some warehouse too long.					Emaryllis loves this...an awful picture of a faded-out old flower on one side of the box! Even the leaves are kinda beat up. No need getting our hopes up too much, right?

Well, well. well. Not bad. The flowers only measure 6" across...but that's actually in perfect proportion to the (5" diameter) pot and scape size. Oh, and yes, it really is 'Red Lion.'					The scoop: this one would never have made it as a gift, it was ready to go way too early. Price was OK, not great (someone might actually be making a small, but reasonable profit on this one). The pot is decent looking, and performance surprisingly good, two scapes with four flowers each. With the addition of a pot saucer, there would be no complaints, here!
CASE 3: Pink Diamond (Not)

Oh boy, I've never photographed a 'Pink Diamond' for the website, so here goes. Such a bright and shiny box with a clear photo grabs my attention (as all shiny objects do).					PLUS...this is a kit for $12.99, slightly larger dry bulbs are nearby in a bin for $14.99. I smell bargain. I only need a photo or two to show the flower's uniqueness, so bulb size isn't all that critical. The carton states the bulb to be 28-30 cm, and it measures exactly 30 cm circumference. We're in business.

Oops! I forgot to show you the bulb and bag of decent soil-less media that it came with. The soil was fine, but cachepots have no drainage..and the kit has a liner to protect IT, but what about the plant's well-being? It's almost impossible not to overwater in a drain-less pot, so I opted for my own 6" terra cotta.					Hey, I know...why not put a nice tissue liner in that cachepot? Fill with your delicious home-made cookies or some gourmet candies. Give THAT as your gift, and keep the amaryllis for yourself ;-) ... and that liner could be used as a cloche for a tender tomato seedling on chilly nights next spring.

Ahhh, only 5 weeks after potting up, a lovely presentation of 5 flowers with handsome foliage. One not so minor carp: it is NOT 'Pink Diamond,' but the ubiquitous 'Apple Blossom.' AB's dark eye seems to follow me around the room...					We can forget that old chestnut about people switching bulbs in loose bins, this was deliberate. The only question: who done it? Was it the packer, wholesaler/middleman or the grower of the bulb. Most suppliers know that these are going to be gifts, and at worst it will go like this..."oh, it bloomed and it's not exactly like the picture, but it's so lovely... thanks, Aunt Margie!"
CASE 4: Piquant Not (again)

Hey, see, like I said before...you can buy 'Piquant' anytime. Here it is at a discount marKet! Told ya so. Sooo classy with that gold foil design, and you can pull the perforated tab off, so no one knows it was marked at just $7.99.					The kit has a familiar look, just like the one that turned out to be 'Gilmar' above. Same pot, same coir disc, same sprouting-out and a bit of bruising on the leaves. Two holes on top allow me to select on that isn't too far along on Dec. 1, 2008. No claim on bulb size, it measures 24.5 cm. circumference.

The coir disc expands, plenty for the 5" pot. Bring on the fungus gnats! Once again I take a sharp knife to the bottom, as it has nary a drainage hole...an Emaryllis no-no.					Well, I was wrong, 'Piquant' may not be as readily available as stated! This is a pitiful 'Minerva,' another VERY available older clone. Poor performance to boot. E's take: Spend that 8 bucks on postage for some really good bulbs from somewhere else. Don't make that gift recipient feel badly about our beloved amaryllises!
CASE 5: Red Giant (not)

Emaryllis spied this one at a local grocery store for $6 bucks even, in early December. Interesting, no cultivar name on the box, just "Red Giant." Of course we can expect a 'Red Lion,' right?					Pretty familair by now, the coir disc, plastic pot, and sprouting bulb. Really, very nice roots on this one.This time the pot is a thin white plastic, with beaded and flared rim for a bit of style. Not really that bad, except that once again: no drainage. Emaryllis takes a trusty sharp kitchen knife and easily slices some drainage slits in the bottom.

The carton proclaims a new, larger bulb size: 26/28 cm. It measures an honest 27.5 cm circumference.					A refreshing bit of marketing: the supplier lists all varieties simply by color. That way any reasonable cultivar in that color class can be used. No trickery possible, no anxiety. Holes in the side make peeking in a bit more challenging, but not impossible. P.S., They got the history of Hippeastrum wrong, but lighten up, its the holidays!

The pot is actually perfectly appropriate in size for the bulb.					Even with an un-named bulb, they can't pack the right thing for us. Not a red giant, but a medium large (6-7" across flowers) orange. Not orangey-red, but a bright, true orange. The plant could fall over with the slightest touch in this lightweight media and container, but performance was great. Its a good thing Emaryllis likes orange amarylli. This would have been a welcome gift.
CASE 6: Grand Prix

This chic little kit came in at $14.88 at a local nursery in early November, 2008. The To:/From: gift tag tied with raffia is a thoughtful feature. 'Grand Prix' wasn't widely available so why not roll the dice?					The claim size is 28/30 cm and the bulb comes in at 28 cm actual circumference. It rests on a bag of nice potting media and it was easy enough to pry the cardboard cover off to check bulb health. At 7" diameter, the cachepot would be grossly over-sized even if it did have drainage. You could nicely place a 34-36 cm. bulb in a pot this large. It looks like we've got one more re-gifting container and another cloche...or the beginnings of a new hat for the local Grand-Poo-Bah.

Shweet! Its correctly labeled!!! The first scape was a little stunted, but the second scape (early January '09) was awesome. The plant's thick lipped terra cotta pot easily slips into the metal cachepot.					'Grand Prix' is worth racing down to the nursery to seek out! Dark, glossy, cranberry red flowers that open wider than tall, then become rounded.
CASE 7: Very Not Vera

Why can't Emaryllis be addicted to a plant that isn't for sale at every drugstore or grocery? Those poor, unloved boxes with life inside, waiting to be freed! For $7.50 I carefully add it to the cart of produce, nacho chips, and wine. E has only one lousy photo of 'Vera,' posted, so with that for justification, and the bottle of wine for consolation...all is well in Emarylissland!					Of all the kits (Emaryllis was going fairly low-line this year...no "Rembrandt" kits...they are really the best) purchased, this line had the best set-up. Totally pre-planted in a peat-based mix, with drained pot, and clip-on saucer. The slotted top piece serves to keep the bulb snug and safe during shipment, but please remove once you're ready to grow it on. Once the plant grows up through that device, it will be tough to remove without damaging the plant. The box claims a 26/28 cm bulb, and for your edification, E took it out and measured it at 27 cm, then gently replanted. The bulb was sprouted out a tad early for mid-November...it would have to be kept cool to be given in late December as a gift. More and more box kit Hippeastrum are actually Brazil-grown, and anxious to show off.

The Mi-nerv-a them!!! Yet again the big Dutch hopper of mixed, common amaryllises spits the wrong thing into my box. OK, look, it would be hard to say that 'Minerva' isn't nice enough and all, but 'Vera' is what I bought. The frustration! Shoulda bought two bottles of wine I guess. Sigh :-}					Aside from getting the wrong cultivar...the foliage at time of blooming, and good health of the plant was exemplary. It seemed to make the neighbors happy as an impromptu post-holiday surprise.
CASE 8: Amigo No Es Me Amigo

Emaryllis was suitably impressed with this brand of kit, and bought it for $7.50 on another trip to the local grocer. 'Amigo' is a nice variety, but I never got a good photo of the one in my collection...and these were already showing scape development. This will rectify that situation, I reasoned, in a matter of weeks!					A well constructed package. Me amigo is protected in a drained and be-saucered pot of media, a cardboard insert to hold the pot in place...and a hole for the plant to grow up through or see into at the place of purhase. Just add water. Tsk, tsk...this time they were busted on bulb size though...it came in at only 24 cm instead of the claim size of 26-28. It did have good roots.

Come on! Here we go again...the buds are clearly not those of the rosy red 'Amigo.' But hey, it does not look like 'Minerva,' so Emaryllis waits with bated breath...					Emaryllis is decidedly amused with this blatant case of swithchery. There is a slim chance that this is a cultivar not generally sold in the US, but more likely it is a seedling culled from someone's breeding program. The gift box is the perfect place to jettison these seedlings, few are ever returned. The seedling, imperfections and all, was deemed worthy enough of growing on for next season. Now dubbed "Salmon Stranger," you can pick up its stats in the Rogues Gallery.
CASE 9: WHICH CARMEN?

'Carmen' is a deep, mahogany red amaryllis that has many virtues...and some definite personality. It is the photo of a seemingly anonymous scarlet amaryllis paired with the calling out of the cultivar name on the box that stokes E's curiosity. And it's cheap.					Yippee! A pot with drainage holes, well designed. Boo, hiss...no saucer once again. Since this kit was bought before Emaryllis considered doing this here featurette, no pic of the bag of potting media (it seemed fine) or bulb...which had a few live roots.

The very lightweight pot has a pebbled surface and some detailing. It's not bad, really...but without a strong set of roots, I choose an unglazed terra cotta to insure that the soil doesn't stay too moist while the bulb is rooting in. The bulb itself measured 28 cm circumference, at the upper end of the stated 26/28 cm claim size. Another plus: it was just barely showing scape development in November, so it has been properly handled.					The result: the anonymous scarlet amaryllis come to life. The box photo is accurate, this would not have been a dissapoinment to a gift recipient. If you are an amaryllis connoisseur looking for a cheap way to get the registered 'Carmen,' into your collection...than the genuinely good performance of this bulb would have been cold comfort. Gee, now what cheap-skate collector could we be talking about?
CASE 10: A CINDERELLA STORY

'Cinderella' is one of those older names you see, always in kit form, not as a loose bulb. Accompanied by a seemingly average red/white photo...you would probably bet on getting 'Minerva.' I ran into this kit at a drugstore that we will discreetly refer to by the letters C, V, S. I pick up some LED light sets for low-guilt holiday decorating, and pony up $6.99 more for the kit.					The handy hole on the top of the box lets me see that the bulb is not sprouting out early (this was early December, 2008). The bulb is a healthy 27.5 cm., but there is no bulb size claim on the kit...they could have gone really small on us, so we are happy. This represents the lower-line version of the 'Vera' and 'Amigo' kits from the same supplier, so this time you get no saucer and a dry coir disc to soak yourself. At least the pot does have good drainage holes, and though thin, is attractive enough not to draw sneers from the Martha Stewart crowd.

The bulb is ideal in size for the pot, and one more time the coir disc comes through in terms of adequate volume. Fungus gnats love the stuff, so keep a yellow sticky card nearby to trap the adults. Those cards are available from any number of sources dealing in natural insect control, or just make you own with yellow paint and spray adhesive coating. Eventually you will ensnare enough of them to crash the population, without resorting to nasty chemicals. They are mostly just a nuisance to anything but tiny seedlings.					Some Dutch fairy-godmother decided that 'Cinderella' just wasn't pretty enough in this Botox/facelift era, so with one more wave of the wand (poof!) we have 'Gilmar(ella)' Quite suddenly 'Gilmar' is doing double duty for many cultivars. This time out, it gets a pass from Emaryllis, being close enough in looks to the box photograph. This bulb eventually put out three scapes, then (poof!) turned into a pumpkin.
CASE 11: Germa: Worth the Wait

Well here are at long last, the end of the '08-'09 Box Kit Season. And fittingly, we have a Grand Finale. It has been over six months from purchase to bloom for this one; a journey that started with a routine stop at a local nursery to see what dry bulbs were coming in. Box Kits were not at all on the aggenda. But there, high on a shelf...the unmistakable image of 'Germa' is espied and the pulse begins to race. A box is quickly lowered to the floor, and deftly opened under the disapproving gaze of a nearby cashier. Prepared for the worst, I pry the top off of the plastic pot...and OMG, there it is...the squatty, scaly bulb of 'Germa' atop a bag of soiless media. The cashier has a customer now, so the leeway is put to use and several boxes are opened for inspection. Emaryllis chooses two for purchase, at a very reasonable $12.99 each.					The kit itself? Pretty complete in terms of materials: a drained pot with snap-on saucer and a bag of decent potting medium and the usual vague and inadequate growing instructions. The bulbs measure 22 and 23cm circumference which is okay for this cultivar, besides there is no claim size on the box. Also, strangely, there is no company name or contact information of any type, anywhere on the box. Who is still growing this older gem? Snarkytime: Check out the design on that plastic pot. Now, I'm sure there are folks who find this kind of thing kitschy or cute or even charming; not Emaryllis. Could they possibly squeeze even one more Dutch stereotype on that small piece of plastic? Wooden shoes, check; tulip blossoms, check; windmills, check. They even put in puffy blue clouds, obviously smoke from some of those famous Amsterdam cafes! ;-)

Eschewing the plastic, Emaryllis chooses a classy glazed ceramic pot for a classy plant. It is important to make sure you are using a free-draining medium when potting in anything other than unglazed terracotta. Part of 'Germa's' bloodline is an aridland species, so even more important here. There would have certainly been more than a few gift recipients unwilling to wait several months for a clone like this to do its thing, so a box kit is a very odd way to market it. 'Germa' is slower to size up for growers, and many easier to produce yellows are in the pipes; its days in the commercial market are numbered. I doubt the newcommers will rival the sheer elegance of this one, though.					The reward; four long trumpets with star-like faces of glowing lemonade yellow. Perhaps a part of Germa's charm lies in its reluctance to sidestep a required long dormancy, and march to the beat of the other hybrids. It has personality, and a way of changing perceptions. Snobs who would write off hybrid Hippeastrums as overly gaudy, crumble in the sight of 'Germa,' and re-evaluate their position. While we will all enjoy a line of newer, more cooperative yellow amaryllises in the future, here's hoping this one will continue to be traded among friends into the forseeable future. All that are willing to make the effort will understand that 'Germa' is well worth the wait.

What? It's red!

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