I know I have about 130 bulbs but not sure how many varieties. (We are only counting ready to bloom bulbs, not our seedlings, right. I also have about 40 new bulbs on sale on order so do I win? I have at least one of most varieties available now, with new ones ordered mostly in multiples of 3. THank goodness my cut flower business gives me an excuse to indulge myself! THese bright beautiful flowers are my winter lifeline to sanity and joy.

I hear ya, Lizalily! I seem to get more depressed as the days get shorter in autumn... and having a nice collection of indoor bulbs to care for really helps me maintain some semblance of sanity and joy, too!

Each year, I get at least a couple new bulbs for winter bloom... and between that, and pollinating the different flowers, and waiting for seed pods to develop for planting... it all keeps me busy. I don't have time to be too depressed!

The ground is still a bit muddy, but I managed to get two dozen roses planted and mulched, and I began bulb planting. I got about 5 bags of tulips and allium bulbs in... so, I'm off to a decent start. I think if I have two more decent days, I can finish up the planting and begin winterizing!

Pray for decent weather!

OK here's a new one for me... I mean, from me ;-) You work from home on the day your big box o' bulbs is due to be delivered so you can open them up right away and check them out. And you can also stash them so no one else in the house sees exactly how many you ordered! Alana

You know you're in trouble when... you really don't care what anyone thinks about how many bulbs you have! You have what you have, and doggone it, you'll get more if you want to! :-)

When you find yourself "giving away" your pink floydxpapilio 2 yr old seedlings and tell your friends "call me if they put up a scape". The plan: they take care of your biggest most likely to bloom crosses over the winter and sometimes they give them back anyway. I only gave the ones I think will bloom- they get a bloom, I hope to see the blooms and to have the room to pamper the rest.

...you have no counter/table space in your kitchen because it's *ALL* growing space.

--Rr

When you send your husband an email titled, "What wifey wants for Christmas" and the only content is a link to White Flower Farm followed by a list of amaryllis varieties. When he asks if he can buy the same bulbs from another vendor, you insist that White Flower Farm guarantees 2 scapes. And you end the conversation with "Honey, it's where Martha Stewart buys bulbs."

Now you're spending all your $$ on accessories for the greenhouse and when your coworkers ask you what you want for Christmas, all you can think of is bulb related items or bulbs themselves, but you don't trust them to buy the right ones!!
:-/
K

When you find a nursery that has a bulb that you want and it's packaged up in one of those kits that you just can't open (Fairy Tale) and your husband positions himself between you and the sales person so they won't see that you are shredding the box to inspect the bulb and you still can't get it open! Then you act as the block and DH
tries to open the kit and you both fail and you walk out and you grumble all the way home!

Donna.......... (never did get a Fairy Tale) well there is always next year........

OMG, I must be certifiable then! My passion for plants expands well beyond hippies as they include many different "tropicals" and "arids" an that just the "House Plants". I also can not plant a Lantana in the ground, they must go into pots so I can carry them over from year to year! My current "project" with them is to grow them in "Standard Form". Which is also how I grow the majority of my Tropical Hibiscus, which includes two I have gropwn from a cross I made several years ago and one of them have never bloomed! (But I keep it anyway because I just "know" it will be something very special!)

I bought a bunch of cacti at Lowe's simple because they were not going to carry them over inside and what didn't sell would be pitched. I have several duplicated varieties there!

Then there's the garden plants. I hybridize Daylilies (Hemerocallis) and am so out of room it is pathetic! I have at least 3 new plants coming in the spring and am still trying to figure out where to put the ones I got this past summer that are wintering over in pots! We won't even talk about the thousands of seeds I have from crosses made this season or the ones I have held over the last 2 season because I had no place to plant them out!

I am not only addicted I am OBSESSED!

Rebecca, who they are coming to take away, hay, hay!

When you stare down the store clerks and dare them to come tell you not to open every box! As if a mere salesperson could stop us!

When you have so many bulbs and so little space, you begin to devise ways of vertical gardening indoors!

When you freak out at a heater malfunction, fearing your plants will freeze before your husband can fix it! Yikes!

When all you want for Christmas is bulbs or bulb related items... and your entire family knows!

Now you're spending all your $$ on accessories for the greenhouse and when your coworkers ask you what you want for Christmas, all you can think of is bulb related items or bulbs themselves, but you don't trust them to buy the right ones!!
:-/
K

You know you're in trouble when your stupid computer apparently is possessed and keeps sending the same messages multiple times!! Why/how is that happening?? You know it won't even let you send a reply with the same heading so how is it sending the same message??
I'm ready to give up on this!
It's only been happening the last week!
K

Sometimes, it will allow a message to be sent again, if you are reloading without getting to the main forum page first. I've had this happen a couple of times... and as soon as I hit "reload", I think... oops! But it's too late.

The only other explanation is a glitch somewhere, perhaps.

If you don't already have it, download Spybot - Search & Destroy and run it... you may have a funky script running in your browser that shouldn't be there.

Download it at the link below. It's free, and it's highly recommended by Larry... my tech-geek husband!

Here is a link that might be useful: SpyBot Search & Destroy - Free Download

You know your in trouble when you know more about hipppes than a reputable garden center pro at the indoor garden dept.

Some of this is so wrong.

When you find you have no place left in your garden for the ANNUALS.

* Posted by wesley_butterflies 5b/6 mass (My Page) on
Fri, Dec 11, 09 at 16:58

You know your in trouble when you know more about hipppes than a reputable garden center pro at the indoor garden dept.

That is SOOO true, but then in some cases, it doesn't take much to be smarter than some garden center workers!

When you obsess over everything involved to ensure proper care and culture... like the medium ingredients, the fertilizer, the water, the lights, the ambient temperature, the humidity... even the pots!

But every year, your bulbs prove to you how good of a job you're doing!

lol right you are, For me all it only took this forum
I know I'm in trouble cause I live this close to a wholesale pot supplier. You now your in trouble when you open up bags of mediums befor buying them

When you forgo bagged soils altogether, and mix your own!

When you spend more time looking for the right ingredients for your medium mix, than you would for the right ingredients to cook a dish!

Well, I had to add this one because it might even be unique. Or maybe not, LOL.

The other evening SO walked into my office and said, "Do I need to get a bulb outfit? You're spending so much time these days reading about bulbs, looking at your bulbs, looking at pictures of blooming bulbs... I'm afraid I'm going to have to dress like a bulb to get your attention.

I replied, "I think I'm going to have to post that one."

BTW, there is no bulb widow here. Just a birthday week and someone wanting a little extra attention.

G

purpleclover, this made me laugh and laugh! Thanks for posting!

You know you're in trouble when you realize that every spare inch of kitchen counter surface (and extra workspace that you've made for the top of the dog crates) is taken up by Amaryllis that are either in bloom or about to bloom. Anyone have a suggestion for where I prepare the big dinner this week??

I know it was a week ago, but so thrilled to see Arif reply!

Happy holidays everyone...no matter which ones you are celebrating!

Kristi

When Dan posts pics and you realize you don't have that plant and NEED one. Or those pics of the blooms go up and it's one of those, Hey! I can buy a few plants this week, moments, and next thing you know you spent, oh, who needs food anyway?
Tally HO!

...you see paper napkins with amaryllis on them and all you can think of is all the neat things you can make with them. The thought of using them to wipe food from your mouth never crosses your mind!
Kristi

I had to be #100 since I started this fun post!!

YOU KNOW THAT, as a group, WE ARE IN TROUBLE WHEN...we have 100 posts about how we are in trouble!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
:-)
Kristi

You know your in trouble when you come to the Amaryillis forum just to unwind from the others. :-)

You know you're in trouble when it's just a few days before Christmas, and you're so wrapped up in your bulbs and the Amaryllis Forum, that you haven't even thought about Christmas shopping!

And you're torn between visiting family for Christmas, and staying home so you don't miss the opening of your flowers!

Happy Holidays!

You know you're in trouble when you look at your kitchen and because of all the amaryllis in bloom (and about to) you have no idea where you are going to prepare Christmas dinner!!! They are covering every spare horizonal spot!
K

When horizontal is taken up, and you begin to go vertical! :-)

We are having a very VERY windy night! All I can think of is that the greehouse is going to go flying (it's a pop up) and we will have a freeze tonight to boot....so will worry all night that stakes won't hold and "flowerhouse" will be in neighbor's yard before it's all over! Cover I made against summer's downpours was torn in pieces (it was just pvc and polycarbonate roof); the pvc wasn't glued together, so it just popped at the joints and the "roof" ended up in the middle of my yard. Couldn't figure out what the dogs were barking at!
Kristi

You know you're in trouble when you hit your mid 40s, decide you need a new career, go to school for almost 4 years because your pre=requisite courses are to old to be considered for your degree, finally get a job 6 months after graduating as a RN. And during your lunch break you think about the Amaryllis/Hippeastrum Forum and how much you miss your hippi friends! Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and the coming new year is filled with peace, love, health, and hippeastrums!
Chaz

Oh, and even though you have absolutely no more room you say yes to a beautiful bulb that is now putting up two scapes...Thanks Alana!

You know you're in trouble when you are fretting over how to get bulbs to a friend in Haverhill in the dead of winter...and it's only the first week of winter...but it's as cold as can be!

:-)
K

That friend in Haverhill says...wait till spring!
Big hugs my friend! Getting used to working again ain't easy! LOL

Chaz, glad to hear your bulb is putting up scapes - and thanks for saying "yes"! You've helped me out a ton because I really don't know what I was thinking when I thought it was a good idea to order them all. And you know you're in trouble when you do that! Glad to hear about the new job. (I'm right there with you about the forum ;-)
Alana

You know you're in deep when your mind immediately pictures certain Hippis and their surroundings when you think of your friends... for example, when I think of Chaz, I think of a beautiful sunporch filled with beautiful flowering plants and vines... and when I think of Lizalily, I think of gorgeous Hippi bouquets and crates of bulbs... and when I think of Kristi, I think of a kitchen loaded with flowering Hippis... and so on!

I guess you'd call it... flower association! :-)

You know your in trouble when you spend two minutes scrolling to start reading up from the bottom comment

You know you're in trouble when...in spite of some people saying it's a way to rejuvanate a bulb, you just can't bring yourself to slice away that basal plate!!!....I know Mariava...it will be fine, but yeow....I just can't do it!
Kristi

You run to buy bargain Christmas lights to keep your plants warm....and pull out all the stops to keep the greenhouse warm enough for the bulbs....that's your #1 priority!
:-)

When you actually get upset over losing a bulb or bulblet... even though these things do happen.

When 2 BIG things happen within minutes...I really must have TROUBLE!

1) you dash out back in temps of 15F to check the temp of the greenhouse (which is a toasty 55F)...and worry because the electricity went out for at least a moment last night, but you don't know HOW long, but the digital clock was blinking when you woke up!!

2) you go to clean off your camera's SD card (it's been used since last Sept...and you've taken a cool vacation, etc) and realize that nearly 500 of the 600 photos are of your amaryllis blooms! SIGH
:-)

How true, Kristi! Most of the photos in my Family Album are flower and/or garden pictures!

When you worry about the temperature indoors... not for your comfort, but for that of your bulbs!

Someone asks which Hippi you don't love in your collection, and you can honestly answer that you have a bulb/bloom that you aren't crazy about.
:-(

I must not have enough, Kristi, because I still like them all... even the not so great ones! ;-)

Jodi...I don't think I have too many. It's just a matter of being brutally honest. You would cull a puppy with a problem without thinking twice. Hippis are the same way. I'm not tossing my Pasadena out yet. We all know they improve with a second scape, etc. Mine is very plain compared to others posted, and if it's an inferior example of that particular hybrid, I'd rather set it aside and focus on a genetically strong, better representative of Pasadena.
K

This is true... I wish some genetic issues would improve with age, but plants are the only things that can exhibit poor blooms one season, and better blooms the next.

The problem is... we don't know the history of the bulbs before we purchase them... if we did, we'd have it made!

A friend on a non-hippi list sends a photo of her cool CAKE and there is a hippi in the background. She replies that she knows nothing of this Apple Blossom (not an AB) and you say that it looks like Pink Diamond and suggest she looks it up on the internet.

She replies that she did a GOOGLE search for Pink Diamond and lo and behold her search reveals a photo that you took posted on this photo. She then refers to you as a wealth of knowledge and starts bombarding you with questions...and of course you encourage her to join the FORUM!!

K

WHEN :: you can't get technique explained when it is perfectly clear to you because you developed it and it is so easy. Bill

BUMP....