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grant_in_arizona

Fun book: Amaryllis and How to Grow Them (by Peggie Schulz)

grant_in_arizona
12 years ago

Hi all,

I mentioned in a different thread I went to a huge charity used book sale over in Phoenix this past weekend. It's one of the largest used book sales in North America and all proceeds go to charity (www.vnsabooksale.org). In any case, I picked up fifteen gardening books (plus one history book and one cook book) for seven dollars on Sunday (half off day). It was really fun and I've been going every year since 2000.

In any case, I imagine most of my fellow book-loving Hippsters have this book, but even so, I thought I'd just share a couple of pics since I thought it was fun, especially some of the older pics of named varieties. It's titled Amaryllis--and How to Grow Them, by Peggie Schulz. It was published in 1954 and is really fun (I picked up a general house plant book with lots of pics from 1908 and that one is really interesting too, to see what a "good" African violet is, or a clivia, etc).

Here are a few pics in case you're curious (yes, they were calling them all the genus Amaryllis in the book, which I'm sure you'll notice right away, LOL). There are lots of line drawings, and some nice bulb cut-aways too, but I thought these were the ones you might enjoy seeing the most. I hope you'll take a look and enjoy. :)

I'm putting the link to the picasa photo album at the bottom in case anyone has trouble viewing embedded pics.

Happy gardening!

Grant

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'Richard Diener' HippeastruâÂÂm

{{gwi:383893}}



Left to right this is 'Fantasy' , 'Scarlet Leader', and 'Franklin Roosevelt'

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Here is a link that might be useful: Pics of some plant books from charity used book sale

Comments (13)

  • kaboehm (zone 9a, TX USA)
    12 years ago

    WOW Grant. Thanks so much for sharing. I love old books like this!
    Kristi

  • grant_in_arizona
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks for looking/commenting, Kristi, I wasn't sure anyone would be interested. I love old garden books, especially those that feature older cultivars and hybrids, so we can see what they REALLY looked like. And since this one was about Hippeastrums, I thought it was especially fun.

    Thanks for taking the time to look and comment. Happy gardening!
    Grant

  • dondeldux z6b South Shore Massachusetts
    12 years ago

    Grant,
    I just looked up your very last picture..thinking it would be pink, and found this..very lovely flower. Does anyone think it can still be found somewhere in the wild?
    Donna


    {{gwi:383899}}

  • blancawing
    12 years ago

    Grant,

    That is a wonderful find. I collect old botanical books too, and I adore botanical drawings and prints.

    For Donna,

    I didn't see a way to post two links, so I'll try to add one in text.

    Just in case this fails to work, "First published in Bot. Reg. 1: 38 in 1815. Synonym of Hippeastrum striatum (Lam.) H.E.Moore."

    Best,

    Blanca

    http://plantilus.com/plantdb/AmarCroc/index.html

    Here is a link that might be useful: More Info on Amaryllis crocata

  • dondeldux z6b South Shore Massachusetts
    12 years ago

    Thanks!! I'd love to see a blooming flower!!

  • joshy46013
    12 years ago

    Donna,

    I posted a pic of H. striatum blooming and so did another fellow recently.

    Blanca is right, Amaryllis crocratum is a synonym for H. striatum

    Josh

  • joshy46013
    12 years ago

    Donna,

    The photo in the other thread of mine isn't working so I'm going to repost.. When I took the pic the flower was quickly starting to fade.

    {{gwi:383900}}

  • dondeldux z6b South Shore Massachusetts
    12 years ago

    Josh..I love it! Where did you get this one? I do tend to get confused with some of these species(especially the orange ones)..sorry I didn't recognize that you had already posted it..What's the name of the thread where the other guy posted his..I'll look it up...and thanks,

  • amaryllisstudygroup
    11 years ago

    Well done Grant!!! one of the most important techniques in that book is from Mrs. Schulz's friend Mrs. Hardgrove in Arkansas. Her technique involves cutting the bulb at the base of the neck just as it finishes blooming, but before it goes into growth stage. The bulb will come into bloom again in just a few weeks and Mrs. Hardgrove is justifiably amazed and proud of her discovery. The bulbs she is using it on appear to be not hippeastrum, but amaryllis belladona the plant of African origin. I was surprised and pleased to find mrs. Hardgrove and her discovery mentioned when I read the book a couple of years ago. I figured out and defined the technique about 10 years ago for hippeastrum (amaryllis0 and wonder what other amaryllidaceae could be brought kept in the blooming stage in similar manner = heamanthus ? brunsvigia ? For 8 years I have been teaching this technique in seminars to Master Gardener Groups; Clubs: and even a few homeowners associations. Last weekend at the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs State Convention in Jacksonville FL., I was gratified to have amaryllis lovers who attended some of those seminars tell me of their successes. One lady kept her amaryllis in bloom for 4 bloomsets in under 6 months.
    That is one original bloomset from a new commercial forced bulb followed by 3 bloomsets expressed from bulb by decapitating the neck just above the bulb. A bloomset in these young 3 to 5 year commercial bulbs like Benfica, Pink Diamond, or Gervase bulbs is 2 or 3 flower stalks.

    I call my technique bloom extension[originally Consecutive Blooming] because by cutting the tips of the new leaf growth you are keeping the bulb in the blooming stage instead of letting it go into growth stage when the the new leaves ang root growt occur.

    You can do this with the bulbs you have in pots or in your garden. You will have difficulty with cybister hybrids and some species, but the wides range of hippeastrum hybrids is open for you to have a 4 to 6 month amaryllis flowering season. You cut the whole neck of the bulb completely off 1/4 inch above the bulb before the last stalk of the bloomset goes soft or wrinkles. E. Wm. Warren

  • bronxfigs: New York City/7b
    11 years ago

    Grant in Arizona....

    These old books are great, and the name "Peggy Schultz" is very familiar to me. Her old book on growing Gloxinias helped launch my love for growing plants. That was back in 1964...and I never looked back.

    Thanks for sharing this classic guide. It brought back a lot of memories.

    Frank

  • JL (Zone 6B MA)
    6 years ago

    Thank you for sharing your find and for taking time to take pics and post! Very interesting and the subsequent comments are very interesting to someone who is new to this like me!

  • amaryllisstudygroup
    6 years ago

    Hello Millran 2, Do you or any family members have any documents, notes, etc. from Peggie referring to her friend Mrs. Hardgrove or her address? I would like to see if Mrs. Hardgrove left any details on her technique if I could contact her relatives. Please email me at amstgrp@yahoo.com

    Some time after my original post I began to suspect that the technique for reblooming she used on belladonas's was for the hybrid hippeastrums belladonna. the term was used informally as a class of and a specific hybrid in pre and post WWII bulb marketing.

    The longest chain of consecutive blooming I have done in potted bulbs is 4 bloom sets , spring to fall. The longest I have reliably heard of is 5 consecutive bloom sets in an outdoor/indoor pot in north Florida.

    The longest periods I know of garden planted consecutive blooming is a woman in the Vero Beach area of southeast Florida, USA. Her goal was to have cut amaryllises for vases in her home as often as possible. Her orange amaryllis were inherited from her grand mother. They started blooming in her yard in February. She would cut some to most of her blooming stalks when they opened. About 5.5 weeks after the last stalk in the bloomset of each bulb was cut, the next bloom stalks would start to open. Her achievement was to have amaryllis flowers in her vases for Thanksgiving and Christmas. At the time we spoke, about Feb. 2011, she had approximately 80 blooming bulbs in both full sun and part shade beds.

    When your great grand mothers amaryllis book was published, I was 9 years old. My obsession with amaryllis started in 1979. I formed the Amaryllis Study Group in 2003.

    I read Peggie Schulz' book about 2009. I would like to have talked to Hamilton Traub, Peggy Schulz, and others but did not know of them. Their books are still available on Inter library loan. Read them twice (it really helps) before you turn them back in.

    E. William Warren amstgrp@yahoo.com

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