Everyone has their favorite company. For best price I would say Eden's Blooms and Van Engelen. But...you are always going to pay more for quality and consistancy and for that I go to Royal Colors (yes, they ship to the USA). I will say that I got some very nice large bulbs from White Flower Farms, but they are a little pricier. It depends also on what company is carrying the varieties that are on your "wish list".

Email me off list and I will tell you who I think you should avoid. I will not blast any seller on the list, but have personal reasons why I won't buy from certain vendors again. One of the above is on my "give 'em one more chance" list.
K

Without a doubt: Royal Colors. They are not cheap, but you pay for quality and that's exactly what you get. I have never EVER got a wrong amaryllis from them. Bulbs are healthy, good sized and perform well.
I can sometimes buy an amaryllis bulb for half the price they have at RC, BUT it'll always be a question of waiting wether you get indeed what you ordered and wether it will perform good.
Good second would be Het Vlaams Zaadhuis (Le Jardinier du Nord) It has both names because they deliver in Netherlands and in Belgium (and probably in other countries too). For the price you pay, you get above average sized bulbs. I've got one or two wrong amaryllis from them, though.
This year i'm trying Verberghe Bloembollen as well. Their bulbs are very very reasonable priced... i'm very curious to see how they perform.

Verberghe (or Eurobulb if you prefer) is very high on my list of top dealers, together with Finnish Exotic Garden. So far zero, not one, mislabeled bulb and the bulbs are big and heavy and healthy.

Royal Colors is very okay, but I've gotten some mislabels and some damaged bulbs, for which I got compensation so absolutely no hard feelings there. Customer Service is outstanding.

Keep in mind that some European sellers won't ship to USA because of tight phytocertificate requirements. So...what is available to European listers may be different than that is available to US listers.

I know I wanted to bring home some huge bulbs from the floating flower market in Amsterdam, but couldn't because none were packaged appropriately and would be confiscated.
K

This is an old thread, but hoping someone is still listening. Wondered if there's any updated opinions on where to buy them. I used to have about 20 amaryllis bulbs that I kept in my officer. Unfortunately, I had to move to an inside office with no sunlight, so had no way to rejuvenate the bulbs after blooming. My situation has changed a bit, and I have the time to plant them outside during the summer (US northeast). And wondering about outside pests and animals that like to eat them. Thanks in advance for any help.

I'm in the Northeast (US) too and I put most of my bulbs out for the summer right in their pots. I use carts that hold about 15 to 20 plants each which can be wheeled around if you want more or less sun. Being in carts, if we should have a prolonged period of rain I can wheel them into the garage for a few days so they won't rot from being too wet too long.

I also have planted seedling bulbs in whiskey barrels and that works out well too. Not much seems to bother them in our neck of the woods and we have an abundance of squirrels and chipmunks. The chipmunks do like to "plant" things in some of the pots though but never actually bother the bulb itself. Just never use bone meal as that will attract everything, skunks included and then they will dig up your bulbs!

If you only have 20 or so you can plant them right in the ground, they will love it and their roots will grow like wildfire. Only drawback is that you have to dig them up in fall and trim their roots and either let them go dormant for a period or replant them and assume that they will suffer a setback. I get the most growth in the bulbs themselves by planting directly in the ground but it's hard for me to get down on my knees which is why I love the whiskey barrels so much.

Donna☺☺

Wow, Donna- such a fast response and very helpful. You actually directly addressed one of my concerns- chipmunks decimated my tulip and daffodils a few years ago.
Hoping for an opinion on where to buy...

Well, I might want to add, that the chipmunks in our yard get fed right along with the birds so they really aren't all that in need or searching for food as it's served up on a silver platter!! When I said that they "plant" things in my pots, I'm referring to the sunflower seeds which I am constantly pulling up in little clumps of 6 to 10 which they plant. Industrious little creatures.

One year many years ago a skunk dug up my newly planted daffodils because we had planted them with bone meal.

As for where to buy them now, maybe some of the others can help more with that question, I ordered some much earlier in the season from Royal Colors and they aren't shipping currently I believe. I can recommend Easy to Grow Bulbs in California whom I've done business with for many years, just not this year and White Flower Farms has good bulbs but their prices are outrageous. And, there's always EBay....☺☺

Mammals aren't supposed to eat Hippeastrum, but narcissus bulb flies have decimated the collections of several on this list. The mosaic virus is spread by insects that bite/suck the leaves, and that has impacted many outside collections. You'll just need to take precautions to keep your growing collection healthy.

I paid $21 for the shipping cost (from Netherlands to USA)of the 5 bulbs I ordered from Royal Colors. That is an additional $4.20 cost for each bulb. So if you are in USA and can get the variety you want from a good USA bulb company, I would suggest that you just get it from them with cheaper shipping cost. Travel time of your bulbs will be shorter and with tracking # most of the time. The USA economy would appreciate the business.

I’m not a big WFF fan, but I have to acknowledge that their bulbs are really first rate. Huge and not a speck of red blotch. Worth the price, imho.

There HAD to be a mistake for you to be charged $61 for 2 Amaryllis bulbs from WFF. I just bought 5 with shipping cost of $29. I'm talking about bulbs only, while you may have purchaed 2 planters with soil and 3 bulbs each. I do think their Amaryllis are superior to any others I've gotten.

HU, you got 5 anaryllis bulbs for $29? what a deal! i just looked at the web site and it was $27 for a single ’Chico’ bulb (bulb alone). Then there is $11 shipping. No discount for quantity, so $135 for 5 bulbs. I’ve ordered ’Chico’ from them twice now because I can’t find it anywhere else, and both times the bulb rotted from the inside out. They refunded me for it, and said that the bulb must have frozen in transit. I don’t think I’ll keep trying since I have no more room!