Hi Bill, Nice thoughts....I am a scientist by trade and I can surely agree that the only way to get results is to try....if you fail to try you can guarantee you will not succeed. I have 2 mantras in plants and science....."how hard can it be" and "well, lets just try it and see what happens". Sometimes it is really, really hard.....but always worthwhile in the end!! The Zephyranthes out of Indonesia are absolutely stunning...and from such a small number of crosses!! I truly wish I could figure out a way to get these :o) As for Mrs. Garfield.....it is just not a real go-getter in my experience here in my zone 6a windows, but I've seen an amazing pot full of these from a aroid growing friend that would make you weep....of course, he grows hundreds of Amorphophallus and collects new species all the time so he obviously has a few things figured out that I do not :o) I've got some blooming size ones that after growing for 18 months are just getting a second leaf (after flowering, so truly blooming size) and others of the same vintage have 4 leaves....go figure!! I've got both H. equestre (2n) and an unknown WalMart hybrid (4n I suppose....a present to my wife from a student) blooming right now....I think I'll do a little pollen dabbing ....maybe I'll be lucky!! I'll give your regards to Udai :o) Dan

I would definitely recommend giving this plant a summer out in the garden, but according to what I've read, it will also do fine as a container plant. The most common nickname for the Hymenocallis is "Peruvian Daffodil". There seem to be several different types in cultivation, all rather beautiful, and all very white except for a yellow variety that I've seen listed on eBay sporadically. The more I look at this plant, the more interested I become! What's one more pot, eh? I think I'll be getting a Hymenocallis bulb fairly soon... Jody, half the fun of growing all the plants and bulbs that make up my little jungle is sharing it with others who appreciate the same kinds of plants! I think that amateur photography, such as ours here in the forum, really shows the plants off more naturally... I know a lot of companies hire professionals to photograph their offerings, and then some of those photos are "fixed". I'd much rather see how a plant or flower looks in someone's home, which is where one would end up anyway if purchased!

What a sudden progress in forum using technologies... Gratulations, Charlene Now, both blooms originate from genuine hippeastrum bulbs - sn't that good news?! The one with the basic red color and the thin red margins is definitely one Fairy Tale and the other which is so lovely Tube shaped is a cultivar which I often see assigned as "H.vittatum". TRY to crossbred them, even if Fairy Tale is 4ploid and the more whitish one (definitaly not a genuine lily) might be a diploid. Good luck Hans-Werner

I knew I'd forget something: Since Lilium x formolongi plants are continuously growing, the bulb stays very small. With several stalks in a plant, the bulb looked to be only about the size of a quarter in a photo he showed. And we each got a packet of L. x formolongi seed to play with too.