Those are fabulous! I love seeing your outdoor planting, very beautiful. I'll be very interested in hearing how well the hardiness traits prove out, certainly the form is beautiful.

Have you tried many of your varieties outdoors? I'm growing exclusively outdoors, and finding that some hybrids are just no good as garden specimens. For example, I have a white Christmas that I bought at a box store sale, it is not showing any sign of disease on the plant, but the bloom scape is all stunted and deformed. Whereas old garden varieties I got as pass alongs growing right next to it are doing great.

Well, that one is surely a winner!! Boga Tigris is a beautiful name for a beautiful flower! Really lovely....

Donna

Hi Sunworshipper - all of the varieties I have seem to do better in the garden than in pots on my rooftop. It seems that they have more space to put down roots, and the weather is fine - mild winters and warm wet summers. There are one or two problems or annoyances. The first is wild pigs, which don't actually eat or kill the bulbs, but they churn up the beds with their tusks, leaving bulbs strewn all over the place, and it is sometimes not possible to see which row they came from. There are also some caterpillars which can eat both the leaves and the flowers - I haven't manage to find out which butterfly it comes from. There are also typhoons in the summer which can cause some damage. Generally though they do OK outdoors, although I've notices some are virused, probably spread by the ubiquitous mealy bugs in summer.

My biggest failure is Papilio Butterfly. I have bought 3 in separate years from Royal Colours, and none has survived on the rooftop.

Hi HippieZep,

Another striking flower plus an interesting historical tidbit.

Do have a cool, shady place where you can try growing your papilios?

Cheers,

Blanca

Wow - wild pigs! Glad not to have that problem. I also have failed with Papilio. It just can't take the heavy moisture of hurricane season here. I gave up after just one. It never bloomed after I put it in ground, and it kicked the bucket it's second year in ground after a an especially heavy few weeks of hurricane rain. I get just as much enjoyment out of the hardier varieties, so I'm making a point of seeking out the ones that like to be garden specimens and can take the punishment that FL summers can dish out.

Hippie,which red and white did you use to cross Bogata with?
Actually, Papilio does best with heavy moisture year round,but it does better in partial shade. It MUST have very good drainage,no matter how much, or how little water it receives. It requires more oxygen to its roots than other species,because it is primarily an epiphyte.Mine are exposed to overhead, direct sun only about two hours a day. Papilio responds best to the conditions of its environment of origin.It grows in the crotches of trees and in the organic matter beneath trees,which is not compressed.Therefore, it is growing in filtered sun,with the constant rain watering of Brazils rain forest, its origin.The roots obtain good fertilization from nitrogen of rain and decayed leaf matter in the crotches.I use at least half perlite in its mix.I plant the bulb,so that only the roots are in soil then add perlite,as a topping to within one quarter of the top of the bulb.Quite often, the roots grow into the perlite topping.
Del