When uploading pictures with photobucket, click first on the "more options" link below the big "Upload Images & Videos"-Button. There you can change the size to 640 x 480 which should be all right. I usually upload in 800 x 600 ...

Gracilis, that's a name for small-flowering varieties, or? It does look interesting so far, with Pink Surprise I can't help, sorry.

I just wondered why they already have to sleep before I realized that you're in the Netherlands ...
goede nacht van Duitsland! (?)

Very pretty!
Susan

Lovely pinks, Lourdes! I love the Gracilis buds... they're so elegant in shape! And Pink Surprise is a keeper, for sure!

I'm not sure what might cause those tiny white spots... I imagine it could be a number of different things.

I know you can re-size pictures in PhotoBucket, but I re-size mine before I upload them to the internet, using Adobe PhotoShop. I usually choose the size based on the subject... the most normal size I use is about 400x250 pixels, or thereabouts. It all depends on the picture. I try to keep them under 600x600 pixels, though. I also sharpen them in PhotoShop before uploading to PhotoBucket.

The only regret I have is that I didn't make separate folders in my Photo Album to keep everything listed by subject matter... like Gardening, Hippis, Family, etc... oh well, what's done is done! If I do it now, all the links to my pictures will be void, so I'll just leave them as is.

Gorgeous photos, Lourdes! Thanks for sharing!

Hi friends,

Here i am again with some pictures updates.

This is H. Pink Surprise, just another flower from the same flower spike. As you see, this one is sporting even bigger spots. What's going on here? Has anyone experienced something like this with Pink Surprise. Well, this is indeed a surprise to me. I was expecting kind of solid hot pink flowers, you know? I'm not disapointed, though. I think it still looks beautiful like that. Maybe next time flowers will be just pink. No spots or streaks, who knows?

{{gwi:435039}}

Next is Limona. Nice flower, a lot smaller than Pink Surprise. I looks very diaphanous, almost see-through. The first hours after opening, the lowermost tepal was almost white, the lower side ones were the greenest of all, and the upper three ones had a hint of soft pink. There's still some pink there. Really very interesting flowers.
{{gwi:435040}}

The throat.
{{gwi:435041}}

Pink Surprise and Limona together.
{{gwi:435042}}

Unknown to me large white cultivar(most probably dutch)
Can someone identify it? Which one is this? Is it Christmas gift, Ludwig dazzler or something else? It is snow white with a lime green throat and blooming for the second time this year. It's first scape produced 5 perfect, huge flowers. This time they are not so big, but still very attractive looking.

Thanks in advance!
{{gwi:435043}}

{{gwi:435044}}

{{gwi:435045}}

This is Hercules' first bud. I'm very impatient to see the gorgeous huge pink flowers we were talking about a few weeks ago. I loooove pink :-) !
{{gwi:435046}}

Betonklotz, hi!
Yes, i'm in Netherlands! Lieve groeten uit Nederland :-)
Gracilis is indeed a name for small-flowering varieties. They are gorgeous. Unfortunately, i missed the best moment to take a really nice picture of them in bloom and now the flowers are withering, but the second bulb is getting ready to bloom, so i'll get a second chance, hahahaha....

Jodi,
I'm definitely taking pictures of the second bulb when it flowers. Gracilis were kind of Red Lion-red, but i saw very interesting and delightful darker red venation on the tepals. They are really very attractive little flowers! And this is said by a dutch one, he? You know Veronica's book? She says that dutch people prefer single large blooming hippeastrums.... Well, gracilis is a keeper! I really ought to share the pictures with you :-)

Lourdes, great pictures - they're all beautiful! I especially love that Limona. Alana

I LOVE PINK SURPRISE!!! Yes, that was meant to be loud...for effect of course :-) These are such beautiful blooms Lourdes. Thank you for sharing!!! The spots...hmmm I don't know. Birthmarks maybe?

-Frank

Lourdes, they are all beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

Theresa

Limona is one of my favorites for obvious reasons... I love that hint of other colors it shows, almost like Exotica.

I couldn't say what the white areas are, though... I'd be interested to know if anyone finds out!

Hercules' buds seem awfully light in color... I hope it opens true to its variety for you!

Lovely photos, Lourdes! Keep 'em coming! :-)

You hit the nail on the head, Jodi.

I was getting doubts myself. The buds not only look light in colour, but they are also rather short. I've seen enough hippeastrums flowers to tell right from the bud when a flower is going to be huge. The buds are then very long.

Well, if these ones don't make some serious growing.... then we are getting a "mistery" hippeastrum i'll ask you all to identify LOL!

But.... i have to say something in defense of this buddy: it has spent a week in my bathroom in the tub. I had to put my hippies there because of the work that was being done downstairs.

There is a roof window just above the bath. So it's not they were getting any light, but it was probably not bright enough. I really hope it is Hercules indeed! I'll keep you informed, hahaha....

a hug,

~Lourdes~

Lourdes, that was all of my Dutch knowledge, I never learned it but have been a lot in your country. I understand some of the written Dutch, at least get a good idea of the meaning ;)

I'm not sure if I understood correctly, is Gracilis some kind of brand or just a term used for all sorts of small-flowering varieties?

I was really stunned today to find Sonatini cultivars in a supermarket here! Normally they just have big-flowering ones in white, red, with stripes or Minerva or Apple Blossom. So this was a nice surprise. Their flower stakes where about to open and sadly I didn't have time to check them out more closely ... I'm getting back there on Monday. I told myself not to buy any more cultivated crosses, but they'd make a nice Christmas present for my mother. ;) They looked kind of wrecked and sat in really drained medium, but perhaps I can get my hands on the more healthier bulbs and repot them in a good looking container.

Gracilis appears to be an old classification term, according to Veronica Read's book. Many of the smaller flowered hybrids were classified as Gracilis... it began in the early 1940's with a cross of H. rutilum to some of the larger hybrids, producing H. Gracile, which means "graceful". That hybrid was crossed with H. rutilum again, creating a group of smaller, floriferous red hybrids that became popular at that time. Those hybrids were to eventually become some of the smaller flowered bulbs that we know today... such as Carina, Pamela, Baby Star, Voodoo, etc... the history of the Hippeastrum is an interesting story, indeed.

Sonatinis are lovely south African hybrids... it's amazing to find them locally, outside of a catalog! Though, a few of the Hadeco varieties have been around longer than I had originally thought.

These bulbs definitely make nice Christmas gifts for the plant lover! I think your Mom would enjoy one... especially if you re-pot it into a nice container with a good medium.

Thanks a lot for the explanation! Do you know where I can find information on this H. rutilum? I coudn't find it on the regular sites and in Veronica's book.

I know, I would have never thought that they're available here. I hope there will still be some left, then I'll buy four or five in different colours.

Very interesting about the Gracilis, Jodik, thank you for that info.

Hi friends,

Here is a little update on Hercules. It surely makes it exciting to me.... will it be a true Hercules or an impostor? It would not certainly be the first time someone in this forum gets something else instead of Hercules, isn't it?
Well, for fortune the buds have grown a lot, and they are getting darker in colour too, phew...!

{{gwi:435047}}

So i hope this will be a true Hercules and not an impostor, hehehe....

Take a peek, look inside.... is it Hercules or not? Who knows :-)....?

{{gwi:435048}}

The next two Gracilis flower spikes are almost ready to bloom, this time i'm really making a few pics! I just hope light is better and that we don't have dark, cloudy days again. It is very hard to make a nice photo when there is not much light :-(. I don't like the way hippie flowers look when i use a flash... :-(. They hardly ever come true to colour then...

Thanks for the explanation, Jodi, Yes, gracilis are a group of small-flowering hybrids. They are in many colours, i have a red one. Unfortunately, i don't know this cultivar's name. I just bought it by "gracilis red", but i think it should be Gracile Red, since i believe Gracilis is the plural form of the name. This one doesn't have a green throat (i think a green throat looks nice and i have certainly no problems with it. They tried to eliminate this in the crossing porcess, i believe)

According to Veronica's description, it makes a good chance to be "Pamela" (red, exquisite venation, slender green scapes tingled with attractive shades of pink-brown towards the base, up to 6 mature leaves present at the time of flowering)

I think they are really gorgeous flowers. In my opinion, small-flowering hybrids are undervalued here by hippeastrum lovers. They deserve more attention :-)!

Thank you, guys, for the kind comments. I'll keep on posting pics!

Sorry to say that but ... I don't think it's Hercules. It looks too green for this variety. Hercules just got a really slight greenish-white star and not such a prominent green throat like yours ... but still it's lovely!

I now read in Veronicas book too about the parentage of the Gracilis hybrids and she has a few of them printed.

There does not appear to be a lot of accurate information available about H. rutilum, and the photos I found were conflicting. Some show a bright red hybrid-like flower, while others show H. striatum labeled as H. rutilum. The IBS website doesn't have it listed, so I'm not really sure whether it's an actual species, or a synonym for H. striatum. Interesting...

I concur... Hercules may not be labeled correctly. It's really a nice pink, though, regardless of its actual name!

And I also agree that some of the smaller flowered varieties are under appreciated... if you have Pamela, you will like her very much! She's a lovely red! I have one, and I think she's a very pretty variety! Another of my favorite, smaller flowered reds is Rapido! A very prolific producer with a nice bloom shape!

Hi there again,

After taking a good look at "my (supposedly) Hercules" and pictures of the real Hercules and other pink cultivars on the internet, i have to agree. I'm pretty sure this is not Hercules. It is a nice pink, though. My first guess is H. "Pink Impression", because of the lovely green throat and the nice white tripes along the tepals with a bit of feathery venation towards the edges. Of course, the flower is not totally open, but i can already see a lot of how it looks inside.

I'll post pics of it when it's fully open. Maybe anybody has an idea then of which cultivar it is actually :-)!

betonklotz and Jodi, those sonatini hybrids are great. I bought three last year. They were sold as three sonatiny hybrids (without telling which cultivars) The first one produced 10 (!!!) lovely, lily-like white flowers with delicate, pencil-think pink stripes in the center. The second one was very dark red (even darker than Royal Velvet) and the third one.... well, i still have to see the flowers of that one: it didn't get any flowers. Maybe next season.

This is a nice, exciting hobby, isn't it? Sometimes it keeps you waiting in suspense for that blooming time, to finally find out how some flowers look like! BIG SMILE.

This hobby teaches patience... in a very enjoyable way! The anticipation of waiting to see what the flowers will look like is worth it! I don't mind waiting, at all! The thrill of seeing the scapes grow, and the buds begin to open... there aren't many hobbies like this... I just love it!

I have a few of the Hadeco bulbs... Joker, Vesuvius, Peach Blossom, Baby Doll, Cupido, and Jade Serpent. I got them a few years ago, and the bulbs were very small. Cupido and Joker have both bloomed, though I'm still waiting to see the others. They should bloom this coming spring... I'm hoping! I also have Amalfi, which is a lovely pink! I got that one the first year I began collecting... I believe it came from John Scheeper's. The Hadeco Sonatinis are wonderful bulbs!

I think it's very unfortunate that there are so many mislabels out there, but in a way, it's a form of the suspense we love! I just wish that more of the mislabels were not the common ones!

Even if Hercules is not Hercules, it will still be beautiful, and you'll still gain pleasure from watching it bloom!