since forever ago, I have decorated my house for the holidays in the most traditional  of fashions. I love vintage anything, love the predictable reds and greens ( especially plaid) and go for rustic natural decor using real evergreen cut from the garden, holly and winterberry branches  and  forced paperwhites and red amararyllis bulbs

Last year though, I changed the look of the room right off my office to a lighter color palette , using grayish green, blue and tan ,  so when it came time to do the mantel for Christmas I deviated from my color scheme and went with silver, purple and blue and glitter of all things. Very unlike me, very unlike the rest of the house, yet it worked . I did add birch and evergreen and of course many of the decorations have a vintage feel or are indeed actually very old . This year I used many of the same components, but added in some others to keep it fresh.

The switch felt surprisingly good. So this year when ordering my amaryllis bulbs ( actually hippeastrum but let’s not go there, it is a festive season and not one for grumbling about botanic name changes)  I also veered off my typical path and chose three that  are most assuredly  not the deep red the has always graced the displays here.

The first to bloom was  the safest of the choices, a miniature reddish -pinky and white called

“Neon”, It has been blooming for probably 4 weeks already and still has two more stalks emerging . Unreal.

The second choice was a watermelon pink called ‘Sweet Nymph” that is a huge change up color-wise for me. It is sitting on the bakers cabinet in the kitchen, surrounded by all things rustic and vintage, yet looks smashing . The voluptuous and velvety blooms stop people in their tracks and somehow it just works with the other decor, probably because it is so striking and different. My mom saw it the other night and could not stop doing the same things I have been doing to it ….stare , gape,and  touch. This one is a keeper, especially as it stands only  2 ft tall on sturdy stems that need no staking at all. It too has been in bloom for some time, with yet another stalk emerging to continue the show.

The last is one named” Papilio Improved”, which is a recurving  butterfly amaryllis with blossoms of burgandy, cream and bronze. Also a miniature , it is standing proud on its own stem, no stake to mar the display, and ready to open any day now, The photo below is from John Scheepers  (the purveyors of this years bulbs) . Also of note is the fact that these HUGE bulbs came packaged each in their own little burlap sack tied off with twine and a lovely vintage label bearing their name. That alone is reason to  order from this bulb house every year,  but add in the fact that the bulbs are mature enough to send up multiple stalks with such beautiful blooms means I am hooked.

I will have to remember this feeling, sort of like being a little kid again on the the very holiday that should inspire such wonder  and delight !

I hope you have the most wonderful of holiday seasons and wish you all nothing but mountains of wonder and  delight of your very own in the New Year !!

Fondly,

Cheryl