Wonderful hippies and photos Marie! And welcome to the forum.

Thank you, all. Did I mention one of my loves is taking pictures of my amaryllis? Here you go, Matt. Plastic candycanes, bread ties and all. This is my Red Pearl starting to bloom.

Marie

Nooooooooo.....cover my eyes... ;) I found your photography on flickr...very nice. That's where I put my photos I post on Garden Web.

Love the Chico. I had one that bloomed the first year in 2010 but then died. However, I did have a successful cross between the Chico flower and pollen from a dark red Carmen, so I'm waiting patiently to see how the offspring turn out - should bloom in spring 2014 with a bit of luck

Red Pearl. This picture does not capture the depth of color of the flowers, and for that i am sorry. I will try again tomorrow. Ruby Star will be along in 3 - 4 more days.

I am really enjoying seeing everyone's pictures of what they have blooming.

Marie

Your Red Pearl is beautiful, mine is blooming now too and I can never get the color right either. Beautiful!

Marie,

Beautiful flowers and beautiful photos. -J

This is a better image of my Red Pearl.

My Ruby Star is just opening now.

Stunning! I wish I had Ruby Star...

If I had to pick favorites, I think Ruby Star would come out as my all-time favorite hybrid. Absolutely beautiful, and mine grew nicely over the summer. Has anyone else found that it resists going fully dormant? Mine kept several leaves despite being kept dry in a cool, dark basement. I decided to end her nap early and has since started producing scapes.

Nice to know that, Macroclemys. I may just let her be evergreen. This is the first year I've had this one, so i know nothing of their habits.

Marie

My Ruby Star grows as evergreen also. I agree with Bill, it is one of the most beautiful cultivars. All 4 flowers open simultaneously and the filaments all hang down like fairy legs with fluffy slippers (pollen) dangling in the air. Enjoy yours...Donna

Beautiful photo, Marie and wonderfully evocative description from Donna.

Thank you both!

Blanca

Donna, lovely description.

I am captivated by the blooms. I am guessing that my Exotic Star that I have on order should be similar in habit?

Marie

For Donna,

Ruby Star.

'Ruby Star' is going on my wish list for sure!

It's just beautiful Marie and don't you just love it??!! It should grow well for you and it makes the perfect Valentine's flower!!

Donna

"Snow White".

"Exotic Star" has 3 good scapes. It would have had 4 if 1/2 of it had not been chopped off.

Maria,

That's a beautiful photo of your lovely Snow White! I'm not familiar with that one and didn't know it would be a double!

As for those 3 almost 4 scapes on Exotic Star I am amazed on what appears to be a not so large bulb!! They look like they will bloom simultaneously and what a sight that will be! I can hear your camera clicking already!

Donna

Oh, Donna!!!!

I loved the ruffled edges on "Snow White". Hopefully she will thrive next year, after hanging out all summer, This one right now is very small and on a 6" scape.

The tallest scape of Exotic Star is just starting to unfurl, so it will be a few days until it opens.

Today, my dog made a meal of 1/3 of my Red Pearl - part of a scape and 2 big leaves. After a frantic call to Pet Poison Control and induced vomiting, he is resting quietly. I have no idea what possessed him. Scary. I am just glad he did not get into the bulb.

Marie

Oh what a shame! Your poor doggie what an awful experience to go through!! I think you were lucky to be able to induce vomiting as I've read that the pollen on amaryllis bulbs is poisonous to cats. If he ate a flower he possibly ingested some pollen too, I don't know about the other plant parts. Maybe he liked the color red? You'll have to have a talk with him.âºâºâº

Amaryllis "Exotic Star"

Marie

Exotic Star is a star indeed. Fabulous. Thank you Marie.

Your ES shows clearly it's papilio parentage. I think mine had more of the neopardinum influence coming through.

Lovely Exotic Star! Should be even more beautiful when the other flowers are out too. I have two Exotic Star bulbs sending up scape now also so soon I will be pollinating away on them.

Donna

Thank you!

lenanen, I did not know parentage of ES could be neopardinum! Do you have pictures? I would love to see the differences.

Donna? Do mine look like yours? Or different also?

Now, I have 2 casualties.

Snow White had root rot, so I very crudely cut out the rot and cut and scraped the basal plate. It is replanted in new dry soil and a different pot. I did this last weekend. The emerging leaves actually look better and thus far, the leaves are actually growing.

I just got my Lemon Lime and it looked old and brown when I got it. Friday when I picked at the leaf scar, (since nothing was emerging) I saw that the center was rotting. I very crudely carved it out. Not pretty. i was actually cringing as I performed surgery.

So I know for the future, how far down can you cut into a bulb and have it survive?

How much of the basal plate bottom? or sides? can you take and have it grow new roots?

If either one survives, i will consider it a bonus - and a lesson.

Marie

Marie,

As far as I know Exotic Star is a hybrid of h. papilio x h .neopardinum.
I bought a second bulb of Exotic Star last year and the first flower that bloomed was quite pale whereas my other bulb was more pink. Subsequent flowers on this 2nd bulb improved though and I was satisfied. I think the color of any flowers may be affected by the usual elements, light, warmth etc. Your flower looks just fine and another year it might be a bit more to the pink side. I have dozens of pictures of Exotic Star from 4 years and some years they might look a bit different than other years but always beautiful. Some times mine bloom with different shapes also. These two pictures are different bulbs on different years.

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I have some pictures from the Internet of neopardinum but I hesitate to post them because they aren't mine so if you just do a Google search you should come up with the same pictures.

As for your bulbs with rot, you can scour out just about the entire center of the bulb (like the Narcissus Bulb Flies do) and sometimes you will get offsets to grow from what's left of the basal plate, sometimes but not always. It's not a pleasant experience scooping out the inside of a poor bulb but in time you'll get used to it, we all have to do it from time to time. It like the first time you slice off a basal plate, you wince when you do it but now I do it without blinking an eye! Most offen I just get lazy and buy a new bulb if it's a variety that is easily replaced and the rot looks like it's insurmountable... like I said, I get lazy.

Donna

Donna,
I have bloom scapes coming on two of my Madam Butterfly bulbs. I have a third one and if it blooms true, then it's yours.
Maida

Thanks, Donna for your words of wisdom and for taking the time to explain. Both bulbs can be had cheaply, so I will probably replace them. Replacements would probably be healthier anyway. I will just see which way these go first, as caring for these will be something I can chalk up to experience.

Marie

More flowers.

Exotica

Mis-labeled? Supposed to be Fanfare, but does not have the recurved/ruffled petals.

Exotic Star - the third of four scapes.

Half and Half

Amaryllis window.

Hi Marie,

Well your Exotica surely is exotic with it's different tones of peach and yellow, a great one to set strong seedpods by the way. I don't know what your red one could be but you've captured it's lovely corduroy like texture, maybe someone else will be able to Identify it for you and great color on your Exotic Star, the green center star really pops and I can't believe how red your Half & Half is! Mine isn't going to bloom this season but I was very happy with it last year.

All your plants look so healthy and neat standing in a row on your enviously wide window sill and I see you've got a few more to come!

Thanks for sharing,

Donna

Bogota.

Nyora is budding out.

thank you, Donna.

Now that the sun has moved around, I get full morning light in the window. The amaryllis are very happy!!! Nyora, Misty and Gervase have buds and will bloom in the next week or two. I will have to replace Lemon-Lime. Piyo-Piyo is very slowly putting up leaves (no roots). Vittatum is doing nothing. Papilio is just getting established. That is all I have left.

Well you've got a great collection for a starter for sure! I'm sure next season you will be unable to resist adding several more to your group. I hope you've got another big window sill waiting;-)

Dear Donna,

I do have a west window that gets the afternoon sun, but not as intense as the east facing window. :-D

I am so grateful for you and everyone else in this forum. I am learning a lot just by reading everyone's posts.

Marie

Marie,
Nice collection, and very beautiful quality pictures! You probably professional photographer?
What camera you make your pictures?

Oleg,

Thank you. I am not a professional, but I am advanced. I shoot with a Canon 7d. The lens I use is 24-105 f4.0 L. I also use a 70-200 f2.8 II L. Thank you for asking.

Marie

Piyo-Piyo.

Gervase.

Misty

Lemon Lime.

Marie, I love all your photos and your amaryllis window. I don't have a good window for plants at all. I have decided that a large window with a deep shelf will be a selling point when I am ready to buy my first house.

Oh Marie, your Piyo-Piyo is much prettier than mine was!! All your photos are gorgeous and I am especially envious of your Misty! I have two good sized Misties from a few years ago and I have been waiting, not so patiently.and they just don't want to bloom!! If and when they do bloom I hope they look as pretty as yours!! All very lovely...Donnaâºâºâº

Dear Donna,

Piyo Piyo was beautiful and I took many pictures. I think it did root, and I hesitate to pull it up to check. I know it is quite robust and I will have to transplant it to a bigger pot at some point.

Misty was beautiful. Described as "mournful nodding trumpets", it was worth having because of the shape of the flower. The inner part of the flower is a lovely green.

Gervase was also quite a lovely and she put on a show.

Lemon Lime put up 2 scapes of which this image is one. It was rotted and despite my efforts, was not salvageable.

Jewel originally put up a very ugly scape, but now has decided it will bloom again. I will try to get some pictures when it opens.

Nyora made some very ugly blooms on a six inch scape as well. I took no pictures. It is, however, growing some lovely foliage right now. I will try again when it blooms.

Papilio is also just enjoying producing foliage. It has yet to bloom.

We shall see.

Matt, I do have my lovely amaryllis window, and for that I am grateful. I also have a sun room, to which most of my current lovelies have been moved to enjoy the summer. For this, I am grateful.

Sorry I took so long to get back. My life has been over full and needed to be attended to, more than anything.

Marie