Green shoots

I'm growing an amaryllis. Not blessed with the world's greenest fingers – previous horticultural attempts include a tomato plant that shrivelled up in the cracked soil one hot summer, neglected and parched; and a bryophyllum grown for school biology that failed to divide and flourish. I'm pretty pleased and even more surprised, then, that the amaryllis has been alive for at least three weeks. At first it was a bulb in a pot – little visible interest. Next the oval-shaped tips of two stems appeared, looking a little like lobster pincers. Diligently, I remembered to water the amaryllis – don't overwater, the instructions firmly remind. The stems grew, coloured a young green, stretched like arms reaching up, hands together in prayer. To be fair, with my track record, I'd be praying too.