Oh Maria, I was just on his website last night!! Did he pass?? I am so very sorry, I came to know of him very late in the game, and he will be missed by many including myself!!
Donna

Oh no, no, no Donna! I have no news from him in a very long time. I just miss him dearly and decided to name this Hippie as such. For him...my Canadian friend.

I surely hope that this forum or the members don't forget him, his contributions and his achievements. He IS truly the VERY FIRST person who has made and documented a Hippie seed bloom in less than a year...363 days from planting to be exact.

Can we all say a little prayer for him???

Maria, Sooo sorry for the misunderstanding!! Maybe someone can delete my response!! Anyway, that is GOOD NEWS Whew!!!
His seeds are starting to sprout!!! Yay!! Donna

Many regular people are gone it seems: Jodik, Cindee, etc. Let's hope they are all just busy, and nothing bad has happened.

Hello Maria, and everyone who wonders about me too. I'm still alive, yes, but I was very very sick. I was so sick that the doctors almost lost me and they were very afraid after what happened. Yes Donna, I almost passed away, so that is no problem that you mentioned about it, it could have happened. I'm getting better, the road to cure is long and hard.

I was diagnosed with cancer in December, lost 45 lb, was in hospital twice, once for 2 weeks in December and then for a month in January-February. Got my first chemotherapy treatment at the end of January and I'm getting new ones 2 Fridays out of 3. It is very hard as you might guess, but the doctor say I should come out of it, the chances of a complete cure for this type of cancer is around 90% and it seems that I'm responding well to the treatments. It is the cancer I had in 1995 that is coming back, so, if I lived 15 years after it, I suppose I can live another 15 years after this one (I can already hear my enemies ripping their clothes shouting "on no!").

On the gardening front, the news are not any better. I was so sick that I couldn't care for my some 300 amaryllis and lost most of them. I had to take some very hard decisions: I decided I was through with the house and what it implies and decided to change my life completely. So, gone are the amaryllis, going are the irises, the daylilies, even the house is sold, I'm moving out in June. I've always liked traveling and did a fair fair bit of it, that will most likely occupy a big place in my new life. Of course, gardens will be on my way and on my to do list while traveling.

My site is still active, right now selling most of the plants that remain in the garden. I intend to keep it alive too. It may not always be with gardening, but I do intend to come back to music writing to some degree and post some of the better tunes I will write. I still have a few more amaryllis left, mostly some of my own seedling, and as they bloom, I post pictures of them. That should end by the end of June though.

So my dear Maria & dear friends, that is where things stands as far as I'm concerned. I'm very confident I will win my battle over the cancer and I'm very eager to start my new life! Thank you for caring!

Laurier

Just like his seeds and the seedlings that sprout from them...a STRONG one!!!

Nice to hear from you mon ami! Your seeds are now happily growing in different countries all over the world. Hopefully in the years to come, when their flowers open, a gardener somewhere would say...

"This beautiful flower came from Laurier Nappert of Canada."

Glad to hear that you are ok Laurier. Keep fighting the good fight!!

Kristi

Laurier, I don't know you real well but I have read your posts and saw the photos of your beautiful seedlings you've created. I do wish you the best of best! keep fighting, you'll win with your positive out look on life.

Anna, Jodi is fine and Cindee is doing well. Cindee just lost some gardening interest after the hard freezes we've had last winter.

Jan

Dear Maria,


Your precious bloom Mon Ami is a beautiful tribute to our friend. Thank you so much for your caring thoughtfulness!


Cher Laurier,


I need the help of poet e.e. cummings to express my feelings:


here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud


and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;


which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)


and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart


i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)


Vous êtes toujours dans mon coeur.

Avec une tendresse sincère et meilleurs voeux,

Blanca

Dear Laurier, May Allah look after you.
My name is Brigadier Muhammad Arif Khan (and I am not a terrorist).
Twelve years ago, at the age of 65 (the age at which my father died of heart attack) I felt uncomfortable while playing golf. Routine tests were non contributing, but the ANGIO, indicated five bypasses. The surgeon was surprised, when I told him to go ahead on the third day (most people try medication for years before resorting to such drastic measures).He did only 4 bypasses and I was back on the Golf course in 3 months. I have a cabinet full of trophies the last I won was 2nd Net on 4th of this month in Punjab open. You see my choice was a FULL LIFE and I have Full Faith in ALLAH, to whom I always pray for guidance.
TRAVELING gives you an education that no school can offer. Even in most advanced countries I found the tremendous difference between an educated person who has seen the world and an equally educated one who has not been out of his country.
May ALLAH give you a long healthy life. Once you are through with your treatment, go around and see the world.
You have a standing invitation to visit me. You can live in my house with my family or at my Hotel ( free of cost). My city LAHORE is an OLD city, the walled city is somewhat like MADRID, there are so many historic places of various periods to visit. December to mid March is the best time to visit.
I love AMARYLLIS. From sowing to blooming in 363 days is unthinkable, how did you manage it.
Arif

My dearest Laurier,

I know you will win again in this battle, and I wish you all the best!

You have done some wonderful things with your amaryllis seedlings, getting them to bloom in less than a year.

Maria, thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures. Is it one of your seedlings blooming? The colour and the veinings are so striking!

Hatta

I'm a bit overwhelmed by all these wishes, thank you so much to every one of you who took the time to express these good wishes. It really makes me feel good and wanting to fight!

First of all, thank you so much my dear Maria, you really are a great person and I feel privileged that I had the chance to get to know you better through many email we traded. You mentioned what I achieved in the field of amaryllis, but I don't think that peoples know that through your contacts, your experience and the many things that you have tried and done that you have become a world authority on amaryllis. This can only come through hard work, but that's where you stand my dear friend, you are among the most knowledgeable persons in the world on the subject of amaryllis. When will you write a book that will tell the world what Mrs Read hasn't said in her's, the practical side of amaryllis growing, from seed to bloom and everything in between? No one has ever written on that subject or if they did, they wrote things that were untried and often a complete invention of their mind. You are the one who knows enough to write that book.

I was so surprised with this thread that in my previous post, I forgot to talk about this beautiful "Mon Ami". I really like it, a very beautiful flower, dainty stripes over light pink with some white, a beauty! I'm also touched by its name, thank you so much for this very thoughtful idea.

Donna, no harm done by your remark, I can understand very well that when you don't hear about someone for several month, you are allowed to think that the worst happened to that person. Thanks for caring!

Kristi and Jan, thank you so much for your wishes.

And to another dear fried of mine who I got to know better with many email we have exchanged, Blanca, thank you for the nice poem and the very nice words you have for me, I'm really touched by that much care.

Arif, what can I say? That's really too much! Yes I love to travel, and I agree with you, travels, when done properly are mind openers. I've seen peoples who have waisted their time while traveling and they should have stayed home if they miss what they have home and don't find it while traveling. Reading your post is always very enlightening. You have the chance to grow your plants outside and try many different crosses and I envy you for that. I also have the same life philosophy as you have: I live as if I don't have cancer as much as I can, I'm sure I will make it through and I have so many projects that I have no time to die. I intend to live and live fully, completely.

As for you offer to visit you, I find you are very generous, way too generous. I'd love to visit you an of course Pakistan, and may be cross the border to India since you are so very near that country in Lahore. But staying for free is not really in my way of doing, I usually pay for the services I use like hotel, meal, etc. I have a very hard time to accept free things like that. I sure don,t want to offend you by saying this since I know this is important to you, I just hope that you understand that it makes me feel "uncomfortable" to some degree. I'll keep your generous invitation in my mind for now, but it may very well happen that I'll visit you sometime. That would also be an opportunity to see your amazing amaryllis collection. Thank you so very much Arif!

And finally, to Hatta I got to know better by buying bulbs from him, a great person, very generous and caring. Thank you so much Hatta for your wishes!

Sincere thanks to all, I love you all!

Laurier

Laurier,

I do not speak much of this because it is still so very painful. I had never experienced cancer in my family before, yet suddenly there it was.

I have known many friends over the years who have survived breast cancer. It is awesome to see how strong they became as they worked to achieve that success. These were all extremely beautiful women, and to see them successfully go through the humilation of losing their hair, wearing a wig and finally seeing their own hair grow back again, knowing that they will live despite the fact that most of their breasts were removed.

As my mother was dieing, I watched as a newly wed young mother and teacher at my school was diagnosed with an enlarged heart and somehow managed to have a heart transplant. So young, so beautiful with a new baby boy in her arms.

There are so many wonderful stories of survival!!!

I wish you the very best of strength and determination to overcome your cancer.

It is good that you can talk about it and share with others.

With Much Care and Prayers for YOU!

Ann

Dear Laurier,

You are in my thoughts, and will always be whenever your amaryllis bloom.

Anna

Dearest Laurier!

This post is for you and not for me.

Shhhhhhh...

Sit back and enjoy the love, care and best wishes we send you.

Yes Hatta, Mon Ami is one of my seedlings. I was about to dispose all of these seedlings which I was getting so impatient of and thought at that time was just going to give ordinary flowers. Inspired by Laurier, I kept a few and tried harder to make them bloom. And I was rewarded.

This is Mon Ami's second flower that opened inside the house with no direct light and temp. range was in the 68-75F.
{{gwi:400088}}

{{gwi:400090}}

Seek and you shall find. Reach out for your dreams like Laurier did. Explore Mother nature's hidden secrets. Published or written articles on hybridizing are there to guide you but do not let it confine or limit you. Learn from your plants as they will be your best teachers.

{{gwi:400091}}

Laurier did it. Others did it. I did it. You can do it!!!

Hi

Maybe you already know....

Laurier died a few months ago. Sorry.

Thank you Lise for your email and informing me/us about this. No we did not know and this is a big surprise. For me anyway as I have always prayed for him and hoped for "the best".

And yes, only the LORD knows what is best for us. Laurier joined our CREATOR on May 2, two weeks after his last post above.

Rest "Mon Ami" and forever be happy and in peace in the Lord's gardens.

With all my love,
Maria

I am so saddened to hear that Laurier is gone. At least he is pain free now and can rest. His battle is over and he fought a good fight.

He inspired so many and showed what can be done through persistance. So many on the list have better bulbs because of him sharing his cultivation tips. Each one of us has touched someone. Hatta inspired Laurier, Laurier has touched Blanca and Maria, and they share with so many and pass it on too.

While he may be gone from this earthly plane, his memory will forever linger here on the list where people who share his passion will consider themselves lucky for knowing him, if only through the exchange of messages.

Here's to our Amaryllis friend Laurier!
Kristi

May his soul rest in peace.

Oh dear!

I feel saddened as well. I am at loss for words.

My his soul rest in peace.

Hatta

My Deepest Sympathies to all who knew him and loved him....and to all of us whose lives he touched through a mutual love of gardening..............

Donna

I was just reading Laurier's emails to me and found this link attached in his last email. I dearly miss you Mon Ami!!!

Oh girlfriend... thank you so much for reviving this thread!

I will always miss our friend, Laurier, and hold him in my heart.

He seemed a good man. I wish I'd have known him when he was alive.

I'd hate to sound insensitive, but it has been five years since he passed away, and his work has become impossible to find online. Even his copyrighted work has vanished. It is no longer the case that you can find sources of his work firsthand or even secondhand.

Even respecting his wishes, it might be time to consider telling what you know. Ideally, you could contact his family and ask them for permission. Maybe have them get a researcher to finish it and still not release information to the pulbic. Just don't let that knowledge die.

I understand he wished to keep his work private so he could claim credit, but no one has continued his work following his death. If no one is continuing his work, then his reason for wanting to keep it to himself is void.

Even saying whether it was a soil, pruning, nutrition, watering, dormancy, aeration, etc. without going into specifics breaching confidentiality could could be extremely helpful.

The implications of being able to grow a bulb to flowering size in a year is almost unfathomable. Bulbs have one of the most fixed maturation cycles of all plants and if it could be applied to similarly slow-maturing species the applications boggle the mind.

For conservation efforts alone, it could potentially save the last populations of endangered species of the Amaryllis family from oblivion.

At least set up something to ensure the information is released when the copyright expires.

Let it rest please...members on this forum who were personal friends have made attempts to get the information and it's not to be. Maybe in death Laurier is challenging us to work smarter. I respect him for that and for many reasons.

RIP dear Laurier.

Surely he did not wish his research to have been in vain.... I am not familiar with the deceased at all and If there are valid reasons for the knowledge to be kept private fine, but just to let his work go for naught is a misplaced tribute to his memory IMO as well.

Thank you, Kristi. Amen.

A request was made years ago of the family and the response was that the information was not available nor would it be made available. Don't you think that ALL of us would like to know exactly what was done to achieve these amazing results?? Hints are well aerated soil, temperature control, fertilizer and optimal light. Laurier is gone and has taken his secrets with him. He is not the first person to have passed and left others wondering. Again...work smart and perhaps you will achieve similar results.

How many hippeastrum seedlings did produce their maiden bloom after one year?

My presumption is, he had a soil heating facility outdoors. A "very big glasshouse" IS basically tantamount to "outdoors with protection" - and soil heating rather than air heating is what the Dutch growers are practising. Before any further musings about somebody who was not ready to share - I call this kind of behavior "teasing" TRY SOIL WARMING. It is, by the way considerably cheaper than warming the air.

Yes....Hans-Werner....heat mats accelerate growth of seedlings dramatically! I've also read some publications about a higher level of CO2 resulting in increased growth rates.

An increase of the concentration of CO2 in the air makes sense. Everybody who can grow a crop within a space which can be thoroughly sealed temporarily, might try this. All the more if they can provide a continual AND cheap supply of DRY ICE. This can be deposited in thick-walled shipment boxes for deep-frozen medical-research-goods made of styrofoam. As a rule of thumb, I found it out, there is an evaporation rate of approximately 25 grams per hour from Dry Ice being stored in these, at ambient environmental temperature. The resulting concentration in the air of the sealed room must be measured by a respective instrument, it should not exceed a level of, afaik, 0.1%. The grow-room must be opened and force-ventilated periodically, in order to remove excess air- humidity, and may be some traces of Ethylene produced by the crop too. The same considerations do apply if/when CO2, heat, humidity, and traces of Ethylene are being generated from a combustion device, which consumes Liquid-Gas. HAPPY GARDENING!

Alway good to hear from you Hans-Werner!! Looking forward to more photos of your spectacular blooms!

Thank you Kristie! AND, in order to furthermore betray the secrets, "PapMinPic3" is still in the making process after 9 years, which is bizarre considering that the sibling "PapMinPic1" has made it to 2 bloomable daughter bulbs in the same time. Oh, and there is a box with "Striped Panther" x "PapMinPic1" seedlings under artificial light, two bulbs thereof should be bloomable now, the anticipation is growing YEAH!

All of the above suggestions are good but one most important thing that ya'll should consider is GENES. Not all hippeastrums can develop and bloom in a year's time from planting seeds. You can provide all of the above but if you do not have good robust genes to work with, you won't get them to bloom in 1 year's time.