Here is my Thanksgiving bloom: Pink Diamond. Just gorgeous this year but only two flowers but two more stalks coming on the two bulbs in the pot.
I have Chico and Lima coming but not in time for Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day to you All!!!

Donna
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I love the color and texture of Pink Diamond!
K {{gwi:409241}}
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Yes it is Donna. Six 5 inch flowers in it's scape. Very pretty!

I loved my Pink Diamond. It unfortunately has gone to Hippie heaven a few years back. A lovely bright pink!

And there's more....
Exciting times ahead!

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OK Maria....I am growing these from seed....they have years to go!!
:-)
Kristi

Those calyptratum are interesting to say the least..I thought about getting one but didn't. Yours look nice and healthy! With two stalks from one bulb looks like you hit the jackpot with that one!!

I've always wanted one of these but didn't have the guts to grow them from seeds in my Northern growing environment. So thumbs up for you Kristi!!!

Yes Donna, I was over the moon when I saw those scape tips peaking out from my group of leafless Japanese bulbs.
It's flowers are quite interesting as they open and practically spill out the filaments and style downwards. After a day or two they all grow upward. It only has two flowers per scape so there is definitely a need for improvement in that area. I'll try to work on these guys this season. The possibilities are endless...

Took these papilios from the garage this weekend as I saw a scape out from one and scape tips from the other two. Hopefully I'll have papilios as my Christmas blooms.

Oh Joy!! You can't get much better than that!! I keep checking mine but nothing yet..Yours are huge!!

This post was edited by dondeldux on Thu, Dec 5, 13 at 9:07

Congrats to all Your flowers! I still have to wait. Only some new bought potted will bloom in the next days.
My bunch has to wait in the basement til spring and greenhouse- season. My big pot of papilios is growing in the window all the wintertime.
Best regards

Congratulations Maria!! Surprises are always nice!
K

Is the picture deceiving me or are those bulbs really big

Thanks guys and gals! So far so good with what's been blooming over here...finally!

Frank...Why wait for spring? Remember they only need an average of 8 weeks of cool rest. Try to bring indoors a bulb or two after 8 weeks so you'd have flowers.

These batch of papilios do have big bulbs.

Maria,
Do you give your papilios light when they are in the garage for those 8 weeks?
Bill

Papilios with leaves grow beside the garage window so they receive some sunlight when the sun is out. Papilios that rest and lost their leaves are placed anywhere in the garage without lights. Different papilios have different growing and blooming habits. Some are evergreen and some are not. Some rest right after blooming and some continously grow. So I likewise adjust my watering and feeding schedule.

The above pictured 3 papilios are a good example. The one in the left and middle were continously active and grew those leaves last spring till fall. The one on the right did nothing and rested spring/summer and only started to grow leaves late fall. They were all brought in the garage middle of October. Surprisingly, the one in the right that rested longer gave up a scape ahead of the others.

Thats an idea Maria! I will try that. My dutch self sterile clone looks like that {{gwi:433551}}
I think, i need to separate it a bit! Not all the bulbs have sufficient space.
I have one other bulb, that is a true species, but it needs a bit more time, to reach size for flowering.
Lots of greets

It's nice to have several papilios from different sources as you get papilio blooms at different times.

This one was too eager to bloom. Too early for Christmas but it has produced another scape. It's the first time my mom to see a papilio and she said that it's the prettiest of them all! LOL

This post was edited by mariava7 on Fri, Dec 6, 13 at 12:50

Just Lovely! I'm so glad your Mom is enjoying your hobby; make things that much easier and so much nicer!!

Thanks Donna! You can never make a gardener totally retire no matter what. She gets very interested in my newly acquired bulbs and starts peeling them. She is very good at it too! LOL

This is the supposed to be First Love that I got for her... a mislabeled Rozetta! I am getting quite disappointed with my Hadeco purchases this season with all of these mislabels. My mom loves it though so I guess that's what really matters.

Maria if I might ask; are those huge papilio bulbs new this year and if so who did you order them from??

Donna

Maria,

Do you notice a difference in the shape or coloring of your papilio from different sources?
-J

Sorry I missed these questions.

Donna...They came from a private exchange.

J...Yes I do.

There are different papilio colonies discovered in the wild as you all can see in Mauro's website. A papilio found in colony "X" can look so different from a papilio found in colony "Y". From which colony did the bulb growers got their papilios that they put in production though is a big "?". Different growers/collectors could have had different sources likewise.
I strongly believe that there is no 1 particular papilio that can be said as the "only" true specie.

Finally got time to take pics!

Here they are...
My Christmas blooms!!!

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Just Beautiful!! And, endless possibilities with all those lovely flowers; aren't you going to have fun; and, you won't run out of pollen anytime soon!

I have 3 new bulbs that put on a pretty good show for Christmas (not that anybody noticed but me) a second Lime Flair, a new Exotica and a new Chico all rootless but putting on a good show none the less. And another scape with 2 more flowers of Pink Diamond!

Donna

Wait til your H. Exotica gets established. It will give you loads of coppery blooms. It's one of my reliable favorites.
K

Yes Donna, I have high hopes for these papilios as all three bulbs gave out 2 scapes each with some having 3 flowers per scape. I am hoping that they are not "linked" with the Dutch sterile ones. So far, seedpods that formed from the pollinated first two flowers are holding and are now 2 weeks old.
New season, new materials, new crosses. Very exciting times ahead!

Your mom is right - the papilio is one of the nicest I have seen on the internet!

Always one of my favorites; The incomparable Chico!!

Maria and Donna - all are just gorgeous!! Thanks for taking time - at a really busy time - to post pictures.
Papilio is one of my favorites too. I also love the crosses that you have all made that have a lot of red in them as well as that tell tale papilio shape. I have been thinking of getting exotica and maybe its time :)
Thanks again and I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas

Jody,

Exotica and papilio, for whatever reason, ARE compatible! Last season I got a good amount of viable seeds from Exotica x papilio and so did Kristi and we are both growing them on successfully. That would be a good cross to give a try. Also Exotica isn't sold all that much anymore so don't hesitate to add Exotica to your hippie family. It produces very strong seedpods and is all around great to breed with not to mention it's beautiful flowers!!

On my second scape of Exotica I think I will try that cross again (frozen papilio pollen that was successful the first time) and if successful I will give the seeds away to those of you who might want to try them. I have enough growing already.

Maybe I'll try Lima and or Chico on Exotica too. I have a Rio Negro about to bloom so maybe that cross too! Of course I might have tried some of these last year with no success (except papilio) but since I don't keep any records I may be doomed to failure again but it's fun trying!

Donna

I've never seen such a "not so pretty" papilio. LOL
Here's another papilio from a different source that bloomed with 3 flowers also (bottom). Hopefully it will have prettier flowers next time.

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Funny how they can differ on a first bloom. I agree that one looks like it just saw something scary and doesn't know which way to run!

My very first flower on my papilio # 1 looked like something had startled him!

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and the next year the same bulb looked like this:

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much prettier. I'm sure yours with the 3 flowers will shape up another year. You've got so many of them now you're going to have to give them all names so they don't get mixed up! ;-) Donna

This papilio would definitely have to wait before it gets some pollens. The 3 flowers/scape is a plus but I surely don't want to pass on that "scared" genes if ever! LOL

Yes my papilios bulbs have their own code and corresponding note cards with source and pollinations/year (success/failures/good seeds/bad seeds) written down. They're like my kids with different characteristics! LOL

First of the above papilio's seedpod is half way there. :-)

And hopefully there's more...

Wow!!! Impressive!
K

They look great!!

:O Geeeez, that's a whole crowd of seedpods there! hehehehe.

Just received this pic. The above pictured "Not First Love" bulb reblooms in my cousin's garden in the Philippines. She was so happy inspite of the flowers not blooming right due to stress in the long travel or temp change.

Good mother = Good seeds

GOOD JOB!! Those seeds look fantastic.

I love the "reliable" pod mothers....!

Is your cousing's bloom H. Rozetta? I had a few of those slip into my bulbs too.

(YES DEVON.......in answer to silent question...)
K

Well, this is what I got! Showmaster x papilio, took me almost to the end and had me fooled. Not to mention 10 failures on Party Animal...

I like yours better...

Thanks, can I cover the shipping cost? Just let me know what it is.

Devon...no need...I just get distracted by things...oh....scape!!
;-) I promise. It will be soon......

Kristi...Yes it is a Rozetta. The very bulb that bloomed for me as a mislabeled First Love. I gave away that bulb to my cousin and it bloomed again for her.

Donna...Big bummer on that seedpod! Some times, there are "things" that are not meant to be. Perhaps next time? Won't hurt to try again.

I just harvested the seeds of that above picture seedpod tonight and will have to admit that these papilio bulbs are the most fertile papilios I have handled. Or perhaps the "fertility" stars were all lined up that night I was pollinating. LOL

163 good seeds in the pod with none having any dots!!!

Hey Maria thats enough, to bake a bread from! :-) congrats!

Thanks Frank! I surely hope that I could produce enough seeds "to bake a bread from". It would be great if these seeds would be able to provide a "Heifer" to a community somewhere again this year. If they do, then they have served their "true purpose" besides producing pretty flowers.

And there's more...:-)

I had to look twice! That's HUGE!
K

The wonders of nature...