I call this amaryllis my miracle flower because it’s survival is indeed a miracle. I have been battling voles in my garden for the past several weeks. I lost over half of my garden due to a sudden population explosion because of our mild winter here in California. They seemed to pop up overnight and devour the roots and all of some of my most beloved and nurtured plants. I tried all kinds of repellents and sonic spikes but nothing repelled them. I tried various traps but none worked except havahart live traps. Every morning and evening I was making truck runs to a near-by vacant field to release my catch. One of my beds of plants was a series of bulbs – a particularly tasty treat for these cute little fuzzy hamster like creatures! I saw one inch tunnels all around the base of this bud starting that was starting to swell and I thought for sure it was a gonner. I had really hoped to see it bloom and today I was greeted with the nice surprise that it did make it after all and today was the first day I had no voles in my traps! YEAH!