If you thought I was going to teach your amaryllis how to play the trumpet or enjoy a little jazz flute I am sorry to disappoint with the news that I can’t teach those things. I don’t know how to play the trumpet. I like to use the term “jazz up” when adding a little something special to my wardrobe, dinner or garden. Amaryllis bulbs are a festive favorite for winter planting and this blog is all about jazzing up your amaryllis planters!
How to Plant Amaryllis Bulbs
Amaryllis bulbs have large, showy blooms 4-12 weeks after planting, and are very easy to grow. Amaryllis bulbs are sold in a variety of ways to suit a variety of planting skill levels.
Waxed amaryllis are the easiest way to grow amaryllis. To grow waxed amaryllis all you need to do is place the waxed amaryllis on a table or steady surface and watch it grow.
Amaryllis enthusiasts will enjoy buying a specialty amaryllis bulb and planting it in their favorite container. Specialty amaryllis bulbs tend to have larger blooms or double blooming flowers in an array of colors from two-tone to deep red, to shades of pink, white, and orange.
People who want to grow an amaryllis bulb and have all the supplies to do it at their fingertips will love growing amaryllis from an amaryllis kit! Amaryllis kits are a popular holiday gift as they come with everything needed to grow beautiful amaryllis. Amaryllis gift kits come with soil, a container for planting and of course an amaryllis bulb– you just need to add water. Some amaryllis kits come with decorative containers, like the Premium Amaryllis Gift Kits that Holland Bulb Farms carries.
Other amaryllis kits come with a basic plastic container that will do the job of growing your amaryllis however, the containers lack spirit, pizazz, and jazz! For fun and crafty DIY projects continue reading for some inspirational ideas to jazz up your amaryllis containers.
10 Ways to Jazz Up Your Amaryllis Containers
Say goodbye to your ho-hum amaryllis containers with 10 ways to jazz up your amaryllis containers this winter.
Cover it with a more decorative pot?
Ok, I’ll admit this one is kind of taking the easy way out! That doesn’t mean a more decorative pot won’t help to jazz up your amaryllis container. If you are lazy or need a quick way to spruce up your décor this is the easy way to jazz up your amaryllis container. Simply place the plastic amaryllis pot that came with the amaryllis gift kit inside of your more decorative container.
Tie a Bow Around It!
My mom is a master at wrapping presents and often uses actual fabric ribbon for the bows on our presents. Therefore, I always end up with plenty of extra ribbons that are too nice to toss out. If you don’t have someone who wraps presents using beautiful ribbon after Christmas holiday-themed ribbon is often on clearance, so buying ribbon to jazz up your container can be done for pennies on the dollar. You may need some glue dots or other adhesive to secure the ribbon in place. Adding a bow using ribbon is another simple way to jazz up your amaryllis containers.
Wrap Garland Around It
Didn’t feel like messing around trying to wrap the garland around your Christmas tree? Wrapping garland around a small container is so much easier compared to wrapping it around a Christmas tree! Garland in various forms whether it is shiny and bold or green and natural can be used to jazz up your pot.
Spray Paint and Bedazzle
Two of my favorite crafting and jazzing tools are spray paint and anything that makes objects shinier like glitter, rhinestones, etc. Start by choosing spray paint that matches your décor.
Use some fine-grit sandpaper on the plastic container before spray painting, this will help the paint adhere to the pot. In a well-ventilated area spray the pot with spray paint. Hold the can 12” from the pot for best results and to avoid paint drips. Allow drying for 24 hours before bedazzling. In the scrapbooking area of your local craft store, you will find rhinestones that have adhesive backs. All you need to do is remove the rhinestones from the backing paper and stick them to your pot. What once was a plain ole container is now a jazzy jeweled container.
Clip-on Holiday Decorations
This is another easy way to jazz up your amaryllis planter! Head to any store that sells holiday decorations and find the ornament section. In this section, you will find plenty of winter and holiday-themed items you can clip on to the edge of the container.
Birds that you clip onto your Christmas tree would be one way to jazz up your amaryllis planter. Nature-themed clip-on items like pinecones, evergreen branches, and berries are another option. You can even combine the clip-on birds with the clip-on nature items. I chose to go with the nature theme and used 3 decorative clip on evergreen ensembles to jazz up this container.
Add Some Greenery
I have a bit of an obsession with ferns and moss. I recently re-potted a fern I had outside this summer which is now indoors. The green from the fern wasn’t enough for me though, and I decided to add some reindeer moss to the top of it, for the greenest appeal.
If you are like me and enjoy greenery like moss, succulents, and ferns, adding some to the top of your planter is a natural-looking way to jazz up your amaryllis planting. I added reindeer moss to my amaryllis container, but sheet moss or sphagnum moss would work as well. Succulents that trail like Burro’s Tail would be a nice addition as well. When the amaryllis is done blooming you will still have greenery from the succulents that are planted in the pot.
Color with Paint Markers
Using paint markers is a fun way to add some splash to the outside of your pot. One of the best parts about paint markers is that they aren’t messy like traditional forms of paint. Decorating the pots with paint markers is a fun project to do with the kids or grandkids.
You can draw a winter scene like trees and snow if you like. Draw a snowman or family of snowmen. Write winter-themed words and phrases such as “Let it Snow” “Believe in the Magic of the Season” “Let it Grow While it Snows”. If painting with kids they can write their names on the pots and watch the amaryllis they planted in each pot grow over the next several weeks.
Light it Up
Add some battery-operated lights around the pot as well as the planted amaryllis. I had some fairy lights that I bought for a different purpose a couple years ago. These fairy lights strings are made of flexible copper-colored wiring which makes them easy to wrap around the container. Since they are battery operated I can easily turn them on and off and place the pot wherever I would like. You can hide the battery pack behind the planter, or add some garland to the bottom of the pot and hide the battery pack there.
If you are thinking of adding some lights to the planter you will want to be careful when watering. Even though the wires and lights may not be too sensitive to water, avoid directly watering the wires and light. Since amaryllis do not require a lot of water, it should be easy to avoid watering the lights.
Cover the pot with Fabric
To jazz up your container this way use any fabric or ribbon of your choosing. You will need some way to stick the fabric or ribbon to the pot, my suggestion is to use Glue Dots. Glue dots are adhesive circles of glue that come on a roll of paper and can be used to stick items together. I wrapped a thick 2” ribbon around the pot and placed glue dots around it every 1-2” to ensure the ribbon stayed in place. When the entire container was covered, I added a bow to jazz up the container even more!
Make a Red-Nosed Reindeer
This is my favorite way to jazz up an amaryllis container! It is a fun project for people of all ages. Gather your family members and a few supplies for a fun festive winter project.
To jazz up your amaryllis container like a reindeer you will need:
- Googly Eyes
- Cardboard or brown construction paper
- Pen or pencil
- Glue dots or double-sided tape
- Red Pipe Cleaners or a red ball-shaped ornament or red puffball
- Scissors
- Wooden stick
To create the antlers for your reindeer you will want to trace a hand with a pen or pencil and cut it out with scissors after you trace them. You can use your own hand if you are doing this project by yourself. If you are creating reindeer pots with kids you can trace their hands for the antlers. When the antlers are all traced and cut you can glue them to the wooden sticks. Stick the wooden sticks in the potting soil that the amaryllis is planted in. Stick the googly eyes to the pot using glue dots or double-sided tape. To make the nose you can buy a red puff ball at your local craft store, but pipe cleaners shaped into a curly Q also work. When it comes to making the nose on the reindeer be creative, as long as it is red it counts!
Fun, Festive, Family Winter Project
Jazzing up your amaryllis is a wonderful family project that is fun for people of all ages. Even after the holiday’s pass decorating amaryllis containers is a great way to spend some time with your friends and family using your creative mind. I hope these 10 ideas have inspired you, and you can expand upon them or think of additional ways to jazz up your amaryllis planters. If you come up with new ways to jazz up your amaryllis containers, I would love to see them, send your photos to jenny@bulbblog.com or post on our Facebook page!
P.S. For more tips on growing amaryllis check out this recent blog post that has all the information you need to grow healthy amaryllis this winter.
