I didn't care for them at first, either, but they are growing on me, no pun intended... now, I find several of them to be really pretty, and have added a few to my collection... we'll see how much they've grown on me as they open... the first one up will be Aphrodite... then Nymph will bloom, followed by Red Nymph... if I like how these perform, I'll be adding more to my collection next year!

I have always adored them@

And, I feel fortunate that they have been available locally in that past...

I know what you mean; for some reason I never went for them, either. But yes, I guess they might, indeed, grow on you over time!

Here's my Nymph (I think) double from last spring and Aphrodite.
{{gwi:375030}} {{gwi:375029}}

I think doubles are frilly and Girly looking, like ballerinas tutus.

Nice, Cindee! I can't wait for mine to open! They have short scapes now, so it shouldn't be too much longer!

I go for doubles. Alfresco, Aphrodite, Red Nymph, Celica, Unique are all my favorites, even though they just bloom, and do not give me seeds. But the size of the flowers and the petal wave is just overwhelming. I like them. But you know, it is always like: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

{{gwi:431153}}
Alfresco

You are making me shake my sox off! What an exquisite photo!! I need to make it my desktop. Like an angel floating.

Cindee, I have the original in full detail too if you want. I can send it to you in private e-mail. But be prepared: it is huge...

I agree with the original post....over the top, ostentatious and just not for me, but that is the great thing about plants....everyone loves different ones so we can all share in others success :o) Dan

I didn't order double flowers because I took them for cul-de-sacs in my breeding efforts.
But then - instead of an orange flowered they sent me this wonderfully smelling one:

{{gwi:434184}}

and I couldn't push back. Should I ...

Ooh! How lovely! Now, if that doesn't make a person think twice about doubles, nothing ever will! :-)

Thys,

Isn't it Double Picotee, a variety really hard to get?

Just beautiful, thys. I would love it even if it didn't have a fragrance!

Most of the amarylli don't have fragrance anyway. :o) Though in large quantities you can feel their distinctive smell... Maybe the bulbs?

Soultan, sorry I didn't answer before. It is the Australian 'Florence May Maguire', confirmed by an Australian enthousiast in an other forum. And she has a marvelous fragrance - similar to the also double flowering 'Jewel'.
I don't know the 'Double Picotee' yet.
Greetings
ty

They are not answering me. I told them that I was willing to buy 100 bulbs from them, since that was their minimum, but they are just simply not answering again.

Soultan, that is totally unacceptable that they are not responding to you. How unfair and what poor service is that? You need to shake them up! I hate poor customer service. I will pay for a mediocre meal, only if the service is superb. There is no call for bad service! I hope you get this resolved, my friend.

I have written to them sometimes earlier about bulbs and they have responded that they only consider sending a minimum of 100 bulbs outside of Australia. Now, like one and a half months later I sent them an e-mail asking them about the details, how would the 100 bulbs be handled and what would be the shipping, etc. and no answer... This is the second time they are ignoring me, then when I send them another e-mail later, they answer as if nothing happened.

I absolutly Love them! They are so showy and demand you to look. I agree with Cindeea they are very girly.

Soultan,
I'm not trying to make excuses for them or agree with the way they are handling your emails but the are justa bulb farm and not a commercial bulb supplier. The few times that I have delt with them they have been fine. Maybe such a big order too be sent out of the country takes time to get all the paperwork organized.
Don't give up on them because I would love to see more Aussie bulbs grown overseas. Then I won't feel so left out when you are all talking about a certain variety.

Thys,
I have asked you to post this pic in another post not realizing that you had already posted it here. I would love to see any other pics you have.

Dizzy,

I just got a reply from them. They would send out bulbs in the middle of the summer here... I am still contemplating it. 100 bulbs at the same time is quite a large order and a lot of money even if I just buy the $10 varieties. The whole package would come out to $1300. It is a shame that one cannot really have free trade within countries. And now that the $ is going down so rapidly, these bulbs have became quite expensive all of the sudden.

It would be kind of nice to get bulbs in summer... although, having to buy 100 of them at one time leaves a lot to find homes for!

Soultan, Does this place have anything more interesting than Hippeastrum hybrids?? If they have some of the really unusual Crinum from Aus. I would love to maybe go in on an order (just not the more common ones like C. flaccidum though)...or other Amaryllids from that part of the world?? Any info would be fantastic :o) Dan

Check out their web site. I am thinking of buying but either I would have to buy 100 varieties or think of a way of getting a big order with friends together... Maybe they count other kind of plants into this minimum order. They promised me to promptly only charge me with the actual postage of the package, so at least, they are giving me a break on that one, but it still comes out about $1.300 for a 100 bulbs... That is about $13 for one bulb, but you know... All Maguire's variety, not available on this part of the world...

Here is a link that might be useful: Maguire's

Soultan, is there no other source for Australian varieties other than this particular company (Maguire's)? Not only are their prices pretty high but I think it's kinda boinkers for them to require a minimum of 100 bulbs. I would take your business elsewhere unless they gave you a special offer/deal on the bulbs because in way, you would be getting their varieties out in the world beyond their "bubble" or the country of Australia and spreading their varieties to people who would appreciate them. Either that or perhaps we should wait till the Dutch growers import the varieties by the 100's and start selling them to their consumers (us). I looked over at Maguire's websites and there were tons of beautiful varieties but a lot of the varieties that I wanted were $22 and sheesh unless those bulbs are jumbo or particularly large, no way jose para mi!

Phyto, shipping, and export certificate is so expensive that it is not worth buying less. Even 100 bulbs have more than 300 extra on them.
The prices are quite high, though they have just became too high recently that the $ dropped so much. Can you imagine the Australian $ being worth more than the American. That is the case...
I asked them about special price if I buy 100 bulbs, but they did not tell me even $1 off or something. Just their original, posted deal on the web.
They say that some of the bulbs are small and some of them are larger, depending on varieties. Don't forget though that the prices are in AUSTRALIAN $. And yes, I do think that they are expensive, but I wouldn't mind experimenting with them, but I just can't drop $1.300 all of the sudden for bulbs... That is more than my whole year spending on bulbs any given years... So I am here, gridlocked... I can't imagine why they cannot send like Royal Colors does. Why is it different sending packages from the Netherlands, than sending packages from Australia? I know it is a greater distance, but everthing is a question of perspective. No wonder that Australia is so out of the circulation of the world. They kind of isolate themselves. It can be very rewarding in one way and very negative in other ways. Australians cannot order varieties from all over the world and the world cannot order Australian "varieties." That is just such a shame!
Did you notice though that yes, some of their varieties are really interesting, but a lot of them are just a seedling of the other and they don't really have distinct differences. It seems to me that they are creating new varieties just to have a LOT of them to offer. Oh well. Unless I have a 100 people ordering with me, each one bulb, probably it will not likely happen :o). Okay. I settle for 10 people ordering 10 bulbs each... You see. Even that sounds quite far fetched... Even though that is only 9 more people to team up with...
Okay. Back to sleep... And dream about varieties not available for the Northern hemisphere!

Unfortunately no other plants of any value at that site.

May I make a few comments about the minimum order since I have imported literally tens of thousands of bulbs from around the world. This is a very small minimum for a wholesale order....very small. Yes, there are places that sell small numbers of plants to collectors, but these are usually plants that cost much more than those Hipps....just my experience from places in India, Thailand, Australia, Japan, etc. Also, if you are buying only 100 that would not get you a wholesale price at any large wholesaler around the world in my experience....this is a small order....seems large if you are doing it for the first time, but it is not from the perspective of the seller who has to fiddle around getting the phytos, etc. You should expect to pay retail price and if they are not available outside of Aus. then you can see why they are more expensive.....they are not being mass-marketed to the world like the ones from the Dutch.

The Phyto from Aus. is one of the more expensive ones and the shipping from down under is also a tad pricey....not near as bad as South Africa, but still high compared to places like India and Thailand and of course the Netherlands.

What you should do is ask if they can ship in a DHL (or equivalent) 'Jumbo Box'. Doing this means you can ship 20-25 Kg (depends on company and country what the weight is) for a much better price than the cost of shipping a certain number of Kg. By the way, until you get beyond 100 Kg or so it is just as cheap to use DHL express as it is to ship Air Freight....Air Freight means you have to pay for a broker to get it through customs ($500) and this is not worth it unless you are considering a more serious order than you seem to be.

It seems to me that $13 per bulb is a good price for getting them all the way from Aus. and they are not a mass-market bulb like many others....what is it worth to be the only one in your neighborhood, city, state or region to have a certain plant that your gardening friends will look at with envy.......$13 :o) Dan

It's Soooo frustrating!!!!
I've given up looking for a Hippeastrum growers that will ship to Australia and has resorted to growing them from seeds. I know this is a much lengthier process to getting what I want (cybisters)but it seems to be the only way.
I don't understand why it cost so much to get the paper work to ship overseas? I know that Australian customs are careful about what comes into the country because we don't have some pests/diseases.

Dan,
Maguire's prices are the norm for hippeastrums in Australia. When they are available at the shops eg. Kmart they are around $11.00 and that is for the common colors. Doubles are never offered at these shops.

Hi Dizzy77, My understanding is that it is not the phytos (for businesses that is), but that the people in Aus. require a quarantine period which can be 6 months from what I've heard. I know people that have shipped and received plants to Aus. (not Hipps, but several other Amaryllids (Worsleya, Cryptostephanus, etc.). It can be done, but it is a pain. Getting plants out of Aus. legally is pretty trivial....I have done it with a couple of small growers for both a few Hipps and what I really wanted....some Dracontium. In these 2 cases it was maybe 20 bulbs each time because they were just individual growers that were willing to obtain the phyto permits.

If you can tell me where to get the seed I am happy to ship them to you....this is no big deal and I always enclose a letter for AQIS indicating what the seed are so that they sail right in no problems and that way it is actually legal rather than you getting a nasty call from the people at AQIS (it happens....I can vouch for that when I forgot to stick the silly letter in) :o) Dan

Many years ago, we had several requests from Australia for our American Bulldog pups... these people were perfectly willing to pay the additional fees for shipping the pups... the problem is that once the pups reach Australia, they are quarantined for 6 months... so, the pup is half way to adulthood before the owner can have it... it's a very good safety feature for a country to have, but it makes it hardly worth the effort of buying anything from overseas... and it certainly frustrates the seller... needless to say, we only shipped a very few pups to Australia.

If enough people would want to participate in a buy from Down Under, it would be worth it to obtain new varieties of bulbs... but I would not want to foot the bill myself.

jodi,

I know a new method how to ship pups to Australia without the long Quarantine. I just learned about it not too long ago. There might be a short quarantine, but it would be max 2 weeks.

Maybe, if I teamed up with amaryllis.com, I could order larger quantities of bulbs from Maguires and get the lower price. :o) Maybe, I just need to buy amaryllis.com .

If a retail store or website were to buy the bulbs and have them shipped, they could purchase more, get a better price, and it probably wouldn't be such a huge hassle... but who would want to buy a large quantity?

If you owned the company that bought the bulbs, you'd get a huge tax deduction... but you'd still have to pay for the bulbs upfront!

It might be easier to breed your own new introductions! LOL!

Oh yes. :o) And go into amaryllis production instead of the movies... Which one is the more lucrative, I could not decide. :o)

See, now you have it figured out!!! The way I got started and ended up with a web business (which I have shut down because it is such a huge hassle) is by buying a few hundred bulbs from overseas....I figured I'd keep 50-100 of various things and then sell the other couple hundred or so for a small profit and that way my bulbs were free....I collected a rather massive group of rare bulbs this way......I never spent a dime on any of my plants....I simply imported 3-4x the number I wanted and sold the rest at way below your standard rip-off retail sites on the web...that way everyone got a good deal and I got free plants.......the problem is whether you can get anyone to pay more than $13 for a hybrid Hippeastrum?? If they were rare species Hipps you could expect to get $25 and up and make it worth your while......it is a dangerous slope though, before you know it you have several thousand bulbs in your house weighing 150 Kg shipped in air freight and now you are putzing around selling them.....still, for a few years it was fun and made it so that I could have all my plants at no cost....just my time to mostly sell them in advance and then the remainder on ebay :o) Dan

If I had the url amaryllis.com, I wouldn't think about it. :o)

You could always start your own amaryllis website... and use one of the store and shopping cart programs that are out there...

We used to run web space dedicated to bulldoggers and items they would want... such as tie-outs, collars, leads, obedience tabs and other dog-related items... it was called The Bulldog Supply Post... I don't think it exists anymore, that was long ago... the name could have been bought by someone else... who knows...

My point is... you could buy web space and name it something like Amaryllis Supply Post or Amaryllis Depot or something that would indicate Amaryllis were for sale... install a shopping cart and store... and set it up so all you have to do is get the orders via email or however that works, and fill the orders... most of your replies would be computer generated, so there wouldn't be too much to do besides choose, pack and ship out orders... and if the prices were right, you'd sell out in no time at all!!

If you are somewhat computer savvy, it would be fairly easy!

Dan,
Thanks for the offer but I have had some very kind people from this forum send me seeds already.

Soultan what about hippeastrum.com? Most growers know to search for amaryllis or hippeastrum.

hippeastrum.com is taken. Though the person who owns it has not set up a site. Besides, only the fanatics know really that Amaryllis is called hippeastrum. :o)

Yeah... I would stick to something with Amaryllis in the name, even if that's not the proper term... most people only know them as Amaryllis. Something like: AmaryllisOnline.com or AmaryllisSupply.com or something like that... the important thing is to come up relatively high in the search engines, if you can, so people can find you within the first page, or so... when I get stumped on what to call something or what word to use, I check out the Thesaurus...

Okay. I will then buy amaryllisthesaurus.com :o)

Dan,
What are the steps I need to take to get these phytos? Is this something I have to obtain to send bulbs overseas or to reeive them? And what costs are involved?
Sorry I'm a bit confused.

A Phyto certificate is about $100. This is what is needed to send or receive bulbs. You also need export/import certificate. Another $100. If you send, you have to obtain this, if you receive, the sender has to obtain it. Look into your plant export rules. You might be able to import bulbs, but for quite expensively.

Oh..... I didn't realize it was going to cost so much. Think I might stick with the bulbs that are available to me here and seeds of the ones that aren't.

Let me clarify if I may. The phyto is obtained by the sender only, not the receiver and the cost is determined by the govt where the sender lives. It costs around $50 in Aus. and anywhere from $10-30 in most other countries. As the receiver you only need an import permit and in the U.S. this is totally free and the form takes as much as 5 minutes to fill out if you are having a cup of coffee while you do it. You only need to list a couple of species/hybrids and once you get it you can import thousands of bulbs of any species that is not CITES protected even though you never put it on your list in the first place. By the way, you only need to list one country on your original import permit and then you can import from any country you want as well. I have been doing this for many years now and have talked with the people at our APHIS/USDA office numerous times to get these points clarified in person.

Trust me when I say this is totally trivial...totallY!! The only problem you will have is sometimes the bulbs are not packed as well as they should be or are packed the slightest bit damp and then you have some that arrive with fungus or rot. If you are importing bulbs that are tougher than Amaryllis you can simply expect some loss....everyone has this problem that I have ever talked to about importing that does it in significant quantities.

All the best if you decide to do it :o) Dan

That doesn't sound so bad, or so difficult! It sounds completely do-able if you really want to import/export...

I shipped a ring to Australia several years ago, and I remember having to fill out a form at the Post Office declaring what the item was and what value it had... not really a big deal... more like a small pain in the rear! But completely do-able!

What maguires said:

"Yes we can ship to you but it is very expensive. Firstly you need an intent to import from your authorities. Export certificate costs about $100.00.
Phyto certificate about $100.00 also courier costs to aqis about $105.00. As you can see to buy 10 bulbs at a time would not be a propostion for either of us.
We require an order of at least 100 bulbs to be able to export to USA."

So that was what they said.

Sounds like the rules have changed in Aus. of they are looking to make extra money. I imported twice from Aus. (mostly Aroids) and the costs were not nearly this high 3 years ago......they are nowhere near this high from Peru, South Africa, India, Thailand, Malasia, Latvia, etc. where I have imported from. Oh well, times change :o) Dan

Unfortunately, times change. :o) I'm not sure I will start my online business any time soon.