Dear Dan...

I can't wait for your Blue Christmas!! If you get seeds and have any spares, let me know if I could purchase a couple.

My S. African bulbs are doing well. The ginormous one is doing very well and I hope it rewards me with blooms at some point. It's been trial and error as they sure aren't Hippeastrum! The Amorphophallus that you sent are doing well too! HoustonPat gave me a different variety that sent up an 8' spathe!!

Good luck with your blooms. Your photos will be a nice Christmas gift for all of us!!!

Kristi

Hi Kristi,

I'm glad to hear the South African bulb is doing well. They can be somewhat finicky about flowering, but once they do they are worth the wait. My little tiny bulb of Haemanthus above took 7 years and the leaves on this dwarf are still only probably 2.5 inches across so very small. I've had 5 of them in a 4 inch pot since I got them....they are snug now, but they look nice packed in there :o) Dan

Congratulations on the worsleya buds! I was bitten by the bug a few months ago, so I have a bit of a wait for this kind of excitement! If you do decide to sell seeds, please put me on your waiting list!

Can't wait for the pics!

--Rr

Congratulations on the worsleya buds! I was bitten by the bug a few months ago, so I have a bit of a wait for this kind of excitement! If you do decide to sell seeds, please put me on your waiting list!

Can't wait for the pics!

--Rr

Hi Rr, I have never sold any seeds from my Worsleya plants, but if you have deep pockets there is a guy on ebay that charges sort of silly prices all the time. I should say that there are too many people telling all of us how difficult these plants to grow. I say this is all sort of nonsense. If you follow what Dale from South Africa posted a couple of years ago and pot them up in good quality peat or sphagnum moss and keep them moist and warm they germinate and grow very, very easily. This is all I did......put them in peat and on a heat mat with a baggie over them and after they germinate just get them fresh air and water with the hose.....I only post this because I know that some people are always looking for seed and asking lots of questions about how to germinate them and it can get confusing.

The buds just started to show today on the one plant so can't wait to see them again after 2 years :o) Dan

Do you do a cross x self? I've read more than once that selfed seeds don't do well. I've been paying silly prices for seed, but can't find a source besides our friend in Rio. I have several small seedlings, and keep starting more to use for swaps of things I otherwise couldn't afford, or have even sillier prices! I am keeping a few that hopefully can be brought to bloom, but it'll be several more years for that.

Is there some other source of seed?

--Rr

Do you do a cross x self? I've read more than once that selfed seeds don't do well. I've been paying silly prices for seed, but can't find a source besides our friend in Rio. I have several small seedlings, and keep starting more to use for swaps of things I otherwise couldn't afford, or have even sillier prices! I am keeping a few that hopefully can be brought to bloom, but it'll be several more years for that.

Is there some other source of seed?

--Rr

Hi Rr, the ones I have were selfed. Some of the seedlings were quite weak, but of the 35 seedlings I had after a month I'd say that 25 of them were quite vigorous and are doing well (the ones I kept) after 18 months or so. I have no idea if crosses would give a higher percentage of "keepers". Seed other then the ones from Brasil rarely come up. The reason being of course, is everyone grows them on themselves for trade or sale same as you are doing......after 12 months of growth they are worth 3-5x what the seed are so it just makes sense to grow them for a year. Sounds like you have quite a few though so hopefully within a few years you will have blooms :o) Dan

Happy Holidays, Dan.

Blue is great! I can't wait.

Best regards to you and yours, Blanca

I do have a couple of keepers, a couple that were traded for other plants, and one that went to a local university for their speces greenhouse. So, I'll get a couple more at some point.

Happy Holiday to all!

--Rr

When I got up this morning I got the following Christmas surprise!!
{{gwi:452094}}
I've been playing with a new camera for the past several months and my latest attempt is to see if I can do focus stacking so this is a stack of 10 separate images in various focal planes to get the entire thing in focus from front to back. Oddly enough, when you stop using a point-and-shoot you lose depth of field so it gets harder to get shots where the entire flower is in focus, but of course, the entire thing is sharper when viewed at full size at least. Anyway, I've been having fun practicing and I hope you like my Blue Amaryllis for Christmas :o) Dan

Here is my second attempt at a Worsleya stack from today. Needless to say, I have attempted self-pollination so perhaps I will get seed from this beauty again this year and I will save pollen to pollinate my next clone that should bloom right around New Years day :o) Dan
{{gwi:452095}}

That's great--good timing too! Do you have a greenhouse, or what type of growing area are you using?

--Rr

No, I can not afford a greenhouse I'm afraid......I just grow them outside during the summer and then under grow lights (T5 tubes) for the winter....they stay outside until it dips below 40F at night and then I keep moving them in and out until the temps do not make it in to the 40s during the day.......they seem to like it I guess :o) Dan

Soooo beautiful!! Merry Christmas Dan!!
I think that's my favorite color blue....
Do you think it could cross with Papilio??? Ohhhh a blue Pap!
Be sure and save pollen!!! (Hint hint)
K

Just a gorgeous color..I think I would call that tanzanite blue..one that hasn't been cooked to death..just awesome!

Glad you liked the pics. The bulb and leaf make it worth growing this fantastic plant, but the flower is truly as beautiful as everyone says when you get to see it in person. I hope that everyone that grows this plant on the forum gets to see it bloom in the not-too-distant future :o) Dan

So I am new to the forum, but have already noticed Dan is first an a maxing photographer and second great eye on amaryllis growing! I myself just have I guess the bigginer bulbs, ur flowers are amazing! Can't wait to grow my collection!

Thanks, it will be no time at all before you are growing some of these other bulbs. Honestly, many of them are not that hard, but you just need to learn their quirks to get the right potting mix and water and get them growing the right time of year. I just harvested some Cyrtanthus mackenii seed (the yellow one above in the pic) and these are really easy to grow so if you would like some please send me a message.....I do not check my personal e-mail acct too often, but I will try to keep a look-out for your message :o) Dan

Any seedlings of the blue?
Arif

Sending you a pm.

--Rr

Hi Arif, I have quite a few seedlings, but none that I will let go of for now.....they are on ebay from other growers fairly regularly if you want to try and buy one, but this is not a good time of year to ship anyway so I would be cautious of that now. I'm sure you can track one down....there is a very good grower in South Africa and also in England, but without searching I couldn't tell you their names off the top of my head...sorry :o) Dan