I would recommend finding a spot for it on the south or east side of a building, and close to the building, for protection. As far as depth, I'm not certain... though I can't imagine planting it as deep as you mentioned.

I'm in the north, so my bulbs stay in their pots. Some will go out for the summer, but come back in when the weather begins to get cool in fall.

You could just take the pot outside, and then bring it back in when fall arrives... or you could plant the bulb at the depth it is now, and dig it up and re-pot it in fall... or, you could plant it a bit deeper than it is right now, and leave it. If the winter is mild, it may survive... if the winter is especially frigid, I'm not certain it will. But it may.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help... perhaps someone else in zone 7 or around there can help a little more. Good luck, though!

Thanks! Right now it's in the plastic pot it came in. If I have a terra cotta pot, I might just set the pot in the ground, as you recommend. I'm afraid in plastic it would drown. Though if someone else with zone 7 experience chimes in, I'd much rather be able to just put it out and leave it - maybe just an extra cover of mulch over the winter...

That's what I would probably do... plant it out in a protected area, south or east side of the house or garage... I'd probably not bury it too deep, but I would add a nice amount of mulch in fall.

The first thing I do when I get a bulb kit is toss out the plastic pot and the soil disk the bulb comes with. Those are not good for anything, in my opinion. I use unglazed clay pots because they "breathe", and because they allow excess salts to leach out. They're nice and porous.

As for medium, I'm a big fan of very free-draining, porous, bonsai-like, inorganic soils that are made of larger particles than normal bagged soils. Since Hippeastrum bulbs hate to remain too wet for too long, a more porous medium works well. And since container gardening is very different from gardening in your yard/ground, a more porous medium allows me to control moisture and feeding.

If you visit the Container Gardening Forum, there are some great articles written by a member called "tapla"... they cover soils and moisture retention, fertilizing, etc... and he gives excellent recipes for homemade soils that are perfect for container gardening.

If you put the bulb directly into the ground, you don't have to worry too much about all that... as long as your garden has decent soil. Just make certain the area drains well, and don't forget to feed your bulb to help it recharge for next bloom cycle.

Hi vvesper, I'm zone 7 but don't fit the "experience" requirement :-) I was actually hoping Frank would jump in. He's here in NC with me and I know he was planning on putting some of his bulbs out this summer and leaving them out to see how they fared.

Sorry I can't offer more, though I do have this to contribute... I stopped at a small new garden place a few months ago (new for me anyway) here in Raleigh and got to speaking to the owner. She said she always put her left over hippies outside to live permanently with just a good bit of mulch to winter over. Which reminds me I have to go back there and see how they're blooming. I'll let you know what I find out. Alana

I had also been wanting to plant mine outside for the first time now that I have my own house. lol
I planted them out last night after driving past another house in my neighborhood.
They had tons of Amaryllis planted....and blooming. It was enough for me to take the plunge! lol

I planted mine right up close to the house. I planted them to where the stem was coming from the bulb...and then I plan on mulching them heavily when it cools down in September or October.
I have one about to bloom....I think it's also an Apple Blossom.

I have tried appleblossom outside here twice in a zonw
6b-7 garden first try they froze and 2nd time the
survived but never bloomed. I have Johnsonii blooming
in the same area. I am in NE arkansas so you may be
a bit warmer. It's worth a try.
vikki

I have some in the ground, although I'm in zone 9. I have mine planted just deep enough to bury the entire bulb, leaving just the tip of the neck poking out of the soil.

My concern here is summer heat, not winter chill. I give them ample water and plenty of sunshine and they flourish. I haven't had much issue with them being outside even in winter, when our temps have dropped as low as 18 (that is only for a few nights a year, not extended periods, so our ground never freezes), in fact they generally stay evergreen for me.

I would recommend making sure they are well mulched in the fall. The idea of sinking pots into the ground and pulling them would probably give you the best success. Just note that bulbs outdoors divide much more freely, so make sure the pot is large enough to accommodate.

Ryan (Phoenix)

Thanks for all the input! I am going to give it a try. I've got the pot outside acclimating in a protected place. If it doesn't make it outside this winter, then I can always get a couple more and put them outside for the summer, then bring them into the basement or garage for the winter. I'll use cheap bulbs for awhile to experiment. :- )

I'm zone 9b, hot and humid, rare freeze (usually a few hours at most), ground never freezes. I plant mine out as soon as they quit blooming. I'm a junkie and buy more and more every year. I plant them a little deeper in the ground then in the pot. I cover the entire bulb up to where the green leaves start. Good luck!
Tally HO!

Hi vvesper! As Alana mentioned, we are also in zone 7 (7b to be exact) and I am planning to plant many of my bulbs out soon and leave them. I am planting them in the ground just as they were in pots with about 3/4 of the bulb under dirt and the top exposed. When fall rolls around, I will decide which mulch will be best to keep them warm with. I think the most important thing is to keep them from being too wet and cold at the same time.

I was just at my cousin's house yesterday and she has many Hippi's planted and beginning to bloom now. They are out in the open full sun in a bed in front of the deck and merely covered with pine straw as mulch around them. They have been there for several years and have multiplied like crazy. I should have taken photos. What was I thinking?

Alana, I haven't been back to check for blooms yet, but there are many Hippeastrum bulbs planted at the Arboretum here in Raleigh. I'll have to go over and check to see if anything is blooming. Please keep us posted on the ones at the garden center.

-Frank

Following up to say I made it to the Arboretum yesterday and the Hippi's are blooming like crazy! My camera ran out of memory, so I didn't get as many photos as I would have liked and it is raining today... I'll get the photos uploaded shortly!

-Frank

I have to console myself with the fact that there are some things I can grow here that wouldn't do very well in the south... though I'd so love to plant out my Hippis for the entire year.

In lieu of the fact that I can't plant them out and leave them, I treat them as houseplants... and they are definitely some of the most interesting and beautiful houseplants I've ever grown!

Who knows, though... with the climate changes going on, it just might be possible to grow some of the more tender items at some point in time... I think we're being changed from zone 5b to zone 6...

I wanted to let you all know that I took the plunge and planted apple blossom outside last summer. I just covered the bulb with soil, not too deep. I did put a mound of bark mulch over it for winter. When I pulled that back this spring, there was a sprout.

Now it has big fat buds on it, and I think it will bloom in a day or two! Yay! We had a very cold, wet winter here, and I was worried it would rot, but it seems to have made it with flying colors. Thanks for helping me along with your advice! It is not in a sheltered place, either. I didn't really have one available. It's just in the bed by the driveway, a couple feet from the concrete, between some roses.

Thanks for the update - that's really great news. I'm going to try to leave some outside this winter too.

Alana

*sigh* bearded iris, peonies, hosta, lilacs..stuff I can't grow and ya'll can. I have to console myself by planting hippis all over the garden. *sigh*
Tally HO!

Dear Tally, If I were you, would have replaced the last *sigh* with *yeahhh..!!* or *yuppiee..!!*... :)

Izhar

I would plant to where the neck is covered.
{{gwi:411317}}

Beachplant I have planted bearded Iris here in Richmond and when I lived down near the coast there were a few there also. They will need to be in raised beds and soil that drains well but they can take the heat but not the root rot. 5 of my plants bloomed this year, bought them from WallyWorld so that should tell you something as they don't have the best in the world roots for plant lovers.