So tell us, how many bulbs jumped into your cart? :-)

8, but 6 promptly jumped onto the desks of lucky coworkers!
I kept a Grand Cru and "Princess"....
K

Oh, that's interesting. I can always look to see if Aphrodite is available. What was the general rule with seeds from doubles? Or are they difficult to pollinate?

Doubles don't usually have the right parts to pollinate! Some have pollen, but properly formed stigmas are rare. Good to gather pollen from a double and put it on a single...some have pollen on the edge of a couple of petals.
K

Wasn't there something about how the seeds might grow singles and then you have to self the offspring to pull out the double trait in the next generation?

I could've sworn I read all this in a thread on this forum but it's been so long that I just don't remember anymore. hehe.

Do a search. Nearly all crosses of doubles involve their pollen. They just don't usually have functional stigmas. Search for "crossing doubles" and see what you get. I am trying to think of all the successful crosses with doubles and all have been with the double as the pollen parent. I can't think of a single one with the double as the seed parent. Does that mean it has never happened?? Absolutely not. There are posts where the lister thought their double had a functional stigma. I just don't recall that they ever took. Right now I am waiting for blooms from seedlings whose fathers are Jewel, Rock and Roll, Dancing Queen, Double Queen, Sweet Nymph, and Alfresco just to name a few.

Happy searching!
K

Hi,

More than several times I have had either a normal looking or partial stigma on some double flowers. Most recently I posted pictures of my Cherry Nymph with a stigma that I faithfully pollenated with another double, I can't recall what it was without looking it up but it failed.
Now I know it has been done occasionally but I have never been successful.
I think I read here that if you put double pollen on a single you could end up with approximately 25% doubles. Now occasionally a double plant will put up a totally normal looking single flower..that's what you can hope for as that would be your best bet for getting doubles. Double pollen on a single flower of a double plant! I haven't run across one of those though...
Luckily, most doubles give some pollen and as in the case of Sweet Nymph, some are loaded!

If anybody has a trick to getting doubles I think it may be a well kept secret.

Donna

...and I just happened to remember that Jewel which is a semi-double occasionally puts out single flowers..maybe a single flower of Jewel would be a good way to start..my Jewel has bloomed twice since I've owned it and always semi-double...maybe this year!

I didn't have any luck except I did find a thread from a member on here years back that also mentioned what Donna said, about a small percentage of seeds passing on the double trait. I just could've sworn someone said that if you had a 'single' offspring that had a 'double' parent, that it increases the chances of getting doubles if you self it - something to that effect but I couldn't find it anywhere. I guess the only trick is to make room for all the seeds, which is impractical as I'm quickly realizing.

A weird thing happened. I was talking about heading to Wal-Mart at some point to see if they had the bulbs at my location, and my mother told me to go into the back of her van. I looked and there was an indoor gardening kit from Van Zyverden. She said she was going to give it to me for Christmas but after the whole 'debacle' with amaryllis bulbs blooming out of the kits in the stores last Christmas, she decided to give it to me now. Bulb is labeled as "Apple Blossom". I was like, "Wait a minute... Didn't everyone hate this bulb on the amaryllis forum? Because it was too common? Too difficult to pollinate? Gotta do another search again." hehehe.

I'd love to stick this bulb in the bed but I'm concerned that it'll start sending out a scape before winter sets in because the back of the box claims that a flower scape will start coming asap.

Joe,

Apple Blossom.. when you get a good bulb and it's happy, is very very beautiful..also has a nice scent. I would venture a guess that everyone of us on this forum has at least 1 Apple Blossom..I have two with many offsets.

The think what you may be remembering about Apple Blossom is that it is notoriously difficult to set a seedpod. The pollen is fine on something else though. I was one of the luck ones who did get a healthy seed pod on one of my Apple Blossoms that yielded quite a few viable seeds. They have been growing for some time now but still a year or so away from blooming. The cross was Apple Blossom x Lady Jane..I'm hoping for a few doubles for my efforts!

So treat your Apple Blossom with kindness and I'm sure you'll enjoy the flowers unless it's stressed and then..they can be really pale and uninteresting.

Donna

I don't think that it's that we don't like Apple Blossom, I think it was probably many of our first bulbs. It's readily available in the box kits. Like Donna said a happy healthy AB is a thing of beauty!

Here's mine last year.
K {{gwi:409312}}
{{gwi:409304}}

...and...if you're really lucky, you'll get one like Kristi's with the fancy stigma..as far as I know she's got the only one with the stripes on the stigma..

Oh hey....quit picking on her!! I looked at the photos and saw that last night and wondered if anyone would say anything. Brings back the "discussion" over Queen of Hearts too!!

Yes...my Apple Blossom is extra fancy with a colored stigma. And look at the amazing throat! Hypnotic, isn't it!?
{{gwi:430953}}
BUT...comparing the blooms between mine and Donna's they are very consistant!

K

Very cute!!
I see you have some offsets growing in that pot..will be interesting to see if they have the fancy stigma too!

After that last "discussion" I search high and low on the Internet and never found one like yours...make sure when it blooms this year to see if it follows suit or was it just an aberration...I hope you marked your pot since you probably have more than one.

I marked my Apple Blossom that gave me the seeds but last year nothing took...

Gosh yes I mark pots with bane, source, and date acquired (mo/yr) and go into anaphylaxis when I find an unmarked pot!!
:-)

What is bane? Unfortunately it takes a lot less than an unmarked pot to send me into an anaphylactic shock.... :-)

How did autocorrect make name into bane?? Name!!!
:-)....
K

Oh wow, that's pretty neat - even the scary throat there. :p I guess you might get a clone once in a while where it wants to do its own thing? hehehe.

Yeah I went to wal-mart and bought one each of pink diamond, amigo, gran Cru, Aphrodite, and Ferrari.

Thanks for supporting breast cancer research....!
K

Yeah I went to wal-mart and bought one each of pink diamond, amigo, gran Cru, Aphrodite, and Ferrari.

They weren't there. I don't know if it's because it's too 'early' or anything but it could also be because of my WalMart's location.

Well, I just came from Walmart and I just bought a Grand Cru (from a recommendation from Kristi) and a Ferrari. Several years ago I gave a Ferrari to a family member with that name and it was gorgeous! So, I though I'd try one. Usually I try to stay away from reds as there are so many out there and I have quite a few, but here I am with two more reds!
They only had 2 Princesses and 1 Opal Star, the bulk of the bulbs were Amigo, Aphrodite and Pink Diamond. Anyway, the Ferrari's were the larget bulbs and they had all started to sprout with buds and leaves. Unfortunately, they had the fewest roots of any of them!

Donna

It's odd...I've been to 3 WalMarts: 2 had the bulbs in the garden section and the other one had them all the way down by checkout #3 (#25 is closest to the garden center...so this was all the way down the store...and I have a walking cast on my foot)....so trudge trudge trudge.

They are calling them something silly in their computer, has to do with amaryllis in a white VASE...although it's clearly a white POT!

This was my Grand Cru from WM from 4 years ago...photo doesn't do it justice!
K {{gwi:395759}}

PS...11 blooms on 1 scape!
K

I bought Aphrodite last year from WalMart's Susan G Koman collection and here is what I got:

{{gwi:371382}}

I also bought a Pink Diamond, and here is what I got:

{{gwi:371381}}

So remember, it's WalMart

Well I guess we all know that buying these bulbs can be a pig in a poke, but they looked good and it's sooo very hard to resist. And, it's for a very good cause..your Nymph is beautiful but I hope I don't end up with another as I've acquired 3 already and I only bought one!
If anyone ends up with a Jungle Star this year through a mislabel or otherwise please please let me know what you bought and where you bought it!!

Kristi's Grand Cru is beautiful..I can't believe the number of flowers..time will tell what I get!

Last year I bought about 25/30 bulbs from nurseries and about 1/3 were mislabeled but I have to joyfully say that not one was virused! I did loose a couple to rot though...

Donna

Remember, we always post our mislables...what we ordered and what we got, and from whom. It happens and probably more so with the boxed kits.

The Grand Gru with all the flowers was labled as a Grand Cru. Hope springs eternal!
K