Hello I am new to planting bulbs and this is my first year forcing an amaryllis, which I have in the refrigerator right now. A friend just returned from Ireland with an anemone "Aurora" bulb which according to the picture directions should be planted out now. I live in Alaska and we are having frost temps as I write this. Can this bulb be taken care of like an amaryllis and potted up to bloom later , like in the spring? I don't think this bulb will make the winter in this 3/4 zone (long winter). Also, is anyone familiar with this type? It is a very large bulb, 9" in diameter...looks like a white turnip. There are very brief instructions in English on how to plant in the ground but not any info on taking care of it. The company name on the package is "Jub". Thanks so much, Sue

here is a site that may be able to help you. Good Luck Here is a link that might be useful: Special Tips for Amaryllis

Do you think that hippeastrums require "forcing" to bloom in Vietnam because the low latitude means natural variances in day length are insufficient to trigger a bloom? The fact that in the Northern Hemisphere they bloom in March but not August seems to me to indicate that it is increasing the day's length, rather than a specific day length, that triggers blooms. I also have them re-bloom midsummer if I move them from indoors to outside. Being moved might also get them to "think" they day is longer since they are exposed to bright light earlier in the morning and later in the evening than in a windowsill. So again, it seems that a sharp short-term increase in day length, rather than any specific day length, triggers the blooming. Similarly... do you think that forcibly removing all the leaves (or forcing dormancy) "tricks" the plants into thinking day length is very short, since they are not getting any light at all, and therefore whatever internal chemical signal "recognizes" all the light is absent? Then when they are allowed to return to growth, the new leaves quickly perceive a lot more light, start producing that hormone, and then bloom. I don't know why they bloom out of a naked bulb sometimes - that's a mystery to me. Maybe it is related to the fact that increasing day length corresponds to increasing warmth and water in their native habitat. But could there be a secondary possible trigger in addition to day length?

yes Alana I think the look of your planters with the other annuals looks great-- will remember that for when I get a garden again. Alana I thought of unpotting and storing my bulbs in our outside closet (it is kept from freezing during the winter by a heater). But I think my less-than-ideal lighting situation having faced North for a season now leads me to think that if I do store my bulbs in the closet it will be in their pots, kept just moist enough not to kill the roots. This will be all an experiment and I have no idea if it'll work or not. In fact I bought a min/max thermometer for just this reason-- I need to keep an eye on both of the extremes so I don't bake or freeze any plants. The downside of having so many summer blooms like I have now is that I feel I need to keep those who bloomed growing longer past the season so that they regain their strength. With the except of the aussie bulbs, I think the others haven't shrunk or anything-- so perhaps they'll be ok. But its the Aussie bulbs that will likely need to keep growing-- though I'm fairly certain they all have roots now, blooming without the leaves too is hard on these bulbs. Russian Halo is getting soft-- but there are little leaves peaking out. Ryan