Amaryllis

Amaryllis come in a large variety of patterns within a color range consisting of red, white, pink and, more recently, peach, pale green, yellow and orange. Ockenga provides beautiful, lyrical descriptions: "Cinderella boasts kitten whiskers drawn on an upturned face, Charisma is speckled with cranberry dots that fade to a creamy background, while Elvas and Allure seem splashed with the juice of sweet cherries."

The book concludes with a list of suppliers (with web addresses) and an extensive bibliography. This is a great book for anyone interested in growing amaryllis, particularily given that there is nothing else like it on the market today. Note, however, that Ockenga grows her amaryllis in pots in her greenhouse in New York; she includes information on growing amaryllis in the ground but the bulk of the growing information is with regard to pot-grown bulbs. Much of this is generic to both kinds of cultivation, however, as is the information on pests and diseases, feeding and watering schedules, etc. This is, quite simply, a wonderful book.