Did you notice that they don't have Lovely Garden anymore, just Supreme Garden? I guess they discovered their mistake for last year and they are ID-ing the Garden now by its real name... I love the quality of Royal Colors' bulbs... They are worth the price... I hope they stay just as healthy after finishing blooming. Will see.

Yes, Royal Colors is offering Supreme Garden this year instead of Lovely Garden. And they are cheaper by 80cents from B&B. From my experience with RC, most if not all of the bulbs I get from them stay robust and healthy. All of my amaryllis bulbs get the same treatment and I have noticed that bulbs(newly purchased) from RC would usually recover ahead from the others and would leaf out good after flowering which would result in lesser bulb shrinkage. Maybe their bulbs get the proper storage treatment.
Bulbs staying healthy would depend on a lot of factors though. Some varieties are weak as some varieties are strong. Newly purchased healthy bulbs of course recover faster and perform better. Given proper after flower care, they have almost no problem staying healthy. It takes forever for an unhealthy/sickly bulb to recover for me no matter how much proper caring I give them in my growing conditions sometimes not even recovering enough before it gets cold and it's time to put them to rest.
I will be thinning out the collection this year. Weak, sickly or just any varieties that are not performing well in my growing conditions will be brought back by my mother to the Philippines. Hopefully, they will do better there. I will try to replace them with healthy bulbs buying ONLY from a reputable bulb company even if the price is higher.

Seems like that is the only way to do... I planted Promise today and the next one will be Double Dragon... Some are just in the verge of blooming... I have never had amarylli blooming for me so late. This refrigerator was a good idea.

Can you please tell me about those big seed pods on those amaryllis (Maria).One of mine has one about the size of a golf ball,am i supposed to leave it there til it dries or how do i care for it.I've never seen one with a pod this big.
TIA
Kathi

Hi Kathi! Big flowered varieties usually produce big seedpods. In my observation of my amaryllises anyway. Just let it be until it dries out (ripens). Take good care of the mother plant providing sun and fertilizer as this would give nourishment to those seeds. Once it starts to crack open, it's harvest time.

Hehe. My room is full of amaryllis developing seedpods. I barely have space for new bulbs to pot up and put in front of the glass door... To my great relief, the bulbs in the flower bed are doing great. They seem to feel wonderful. I might have a lot of blooms from this november. First time that I am caring for amaryllis, it seems like I've done the absoulutely best thing I could do for my bulbs. I planted them outside.

Soultan...Sun, rain, soil, fresh air...they don't really need much to flourish. I would have done just that, planting them in the ground, if I was in the right zone. Most of my newly purchased bulbs that are done blooming have been repotted and are doing so good outside. Magic Green, Promise, Lemon Lime and Peaches & Cream (temporary name for my mislabeled Double Queen) are reblooming!

As it has been a long pollination time for Supreme Garden, it has been a long harvesting time for it's seedpods too. I have been harvesting seedpods from this Supreme Garden since last week. As of today, I have harvested 16 seedpods and more are still to ripen.

Soultan will you keep them in the ground all year round? Will you keep some in the fridge to have them flower when the ones in the garden are not? I have one in the fridge at the moment, my first try at forcing. How long before I can pot it up and expect flowers?
I am also caring for those seedlings from you Maria, they are about 1 1/2 inches now and are looking very healthy.
I bought some seeds off ebay and are waiting for them to sprout.
It's been too cold to be outside gardening so I'm doing what I can inside.
Can't wait for spring!!!

Di

I will remove them later... I want them to bloom inside. I think they will slowly get out of the bed around end of September and go to the refridgerator to rest a little. Then when they finished blooming, they will be planted out again from the beginning of January perhaps.
I would not keep the bulbs in the fridge right now if I had not moved... Hence the late potting time for them... I would start the forcing from October 10th and go on as long as I have bulbs to pot... I don't know how your bulb that is still in the fridge will do. It should be out, gathering energy for the winter bloom. I would only unearth it and put it in the fridge from End of September, not this time of the year. All the bulbs I have in the fridge are newly purchased bulbs, prepared for forcing already.

Soultan
The bulb that I have in the fridge had already lost its leaves ( it's winter here) maybe I didn't need to put it in the fridge it's probably cold enough outside. Should I wake it up now? If I plant it now and keep it warm inside the house will it flower?

Mariava
Did you pollinate any doubles or cybister crosses with your many SG flowers?

Di

I guess. You are on the other side of the world, right? If it has slept for like 6 weeks, try to wake it up, why not? It is definitely not christmas bloom for you, but who cares as long as it brightens up your winter days.
It will only flower though if it has a healthy scape hidden inside.

Thanks soultan for your advise. Its a bit confusing when it's winter here and I suppose it's summer there? Anyway the bulb has been asleep for at least 2-3 months. It should have a scape, I hope. I'll plant it and see what happens.
Thanks again
Di

The scape has developed during when it was still awake... If you take it out and plant it, if it has scape, it should emerge.

Hi Dizzy! Sorry for just responding now. I just arrived yesterday afternoon from my Baltimore/Chicago/Cleveland trip. 10 days was definitely NOT enough...lol! After visiting these big cities, I felt so blessed I don't live in any of them.
All of my pollination using cybister pollens failed which could mean that SG is not a diploid. On the other hand, I did harvest some seeds using pollen from Lemon Lime which is supposed to be diploid. This "ploidy-doidy' thing still confuses me. Oh well... Pollination using Grandeur pollens was a success too. With doubles, I did get successful using Double Record pollens.

It seems like all of my Grandeur pollinations are good. The seed pods are developing. (Grandeur mother.) On the other hand: I pollinated Ambiance with another Ambiance and Desire and all failed on the Ambiance flowers. I don't know what went wrong. The same happened to Merenque. All failed. Rapido, on the other hand is heavily pregnant, all of the flowers taking and developing huge seed pods. Four scape, at least five pods per scape. Interesting.

Hi Maria I hope you enjoyed your trip!
I have read up on that ploidy-doidy stuff on this forum and it sounds all too confusing to me. This season will be my first year pollinating, I've always just left it up to the bees and hoped for the best. I'll jsut try a few different crosses and keep my fingers crossed.

And soultan I took the bulb out of the fridge and it already had something green coming out of the top of the bulb. It's only just showing but I think its a scape because it's not coming from the middle of the bulb but more to the side. I've potted it up and have it in the kitchen where it won't get too much heat from heaters but out of the cold.
I hope this works!!

Di

I hope you will take some pictures. :) I am a lazy bump right now. I am working myself to death day by day, so I am happy if I can plant them up and take a look at them once-twice a day. Can someone send me a little tranquility?