Lovely plants and flowers my dear Xuan! Thanks for sharing!

You know I love orchids, that one is stunning! I got talked into bromeliads this year and am enjoying their no fuss carefree maintenance. Thanks for thinking of me, my friend!

Hey Xuan, nice amaryllis, bromeliad, and vanda. It's really better to not cut the leaves of your amaryllis because your bulb is going to replenish it's storage of energy and nutrients from it's leaves when it goes dormant. What a lot of people do is stake up long leaves so that it doesn't look as wraggly. It's alright though, cutting your leaves this time shouldn't set you back too much since in Vietnam you can grow year-round but it's reccomended that you do not cut the leaves, especially when they are healthy and green. Thanks for sharing! =)

Wow, paxfleur, thank you for your inputs. It's too late to correct but I do feel relieved that I'm in a different climate and the amaryllis go green all the year round, no dormancy here! Know better next time :-).

Xuan

Xuan... wonderful pictures! The orchid is lovely, and your Amaryllis are doing very good! I don't know much about bromeliads, but that one has nice colors! I notice a little vine in the background of your pictures... it looks really nice wandering over the walls and everywhere! What kind of vine is that? It almost looks like creeping fig...

You're so lucky to have warm growing conditions all year! I'm freezing here! Thank you for sharing!

Jodi, I don't know the English name of the vine, but over here we call it the lizard vine :-) because it clings to the walls the way the house lizard does.

Xuan

Believe it or not, that vine is a Ficus.

Xuan...Try to avoid cutting off green leaves. No matter how ugly they are, they still feed the bulb. Remember, now that you are preparing this (Appleblossom) for forcing, it should at least leaf out 8 leaves. The more the better...

I thought the vine looked familiar! So, it IS creeping fig! I had one as a houseplant a long time ago, but it got spider mites really bad, and died before I could get them under control! They hate dry conditions, and that's how it is here in winter... if we get a greenhouse, I'll look for another one... it was a nice plant!

Welcome home, Maria. Thanks for your inputs.
Now, on the line for preparation for forcing, I have a few very fat bulbs in the ground. Do you think I can unearth them and pot them up now to get ready for forcing in August? (Will remember to keep all the leaves and roots intact!)
Also, look again at my bulb above. I think it will open way before Xmas, maybe 2-3 weeks before, I'm afraid. What do you think? Maybe in warm climate, it takes less time than in cold climate?
I will keep track of everything.

Xuan

haxuan: very nice, indeed! I always love a bit of the tropics in a garden. :)

Thanks Xuan!

Cooler weather/temperature slows down the growth of the scape and of course warmer temp. makes them grow faster. Commercial growers place bulbs with scapes out in cooler rooms with 40-45F temp which stops their growth when they want them to bloom at a certain date. Try placing your planted bulb in the coolest portion of your house and hopefully it will slow down a bit. X'mas is still 4 weeks to go though. I think it will be opening it's flowers in a week or two.

Take a note of this. Next time you force your bulb, specially this one, plant it 2-3 weeks later than the date you planted this bulb this year. Your warm temp in Vietnam makes your bulb's scapes emerge faster I guess. Some varieties are faster, some are slower. At least you know this certain bulb is a fast one. It just wants to bloom NOW!!!

Why pot them up when they are fat and happy in the ground? You can let them stay there and get fatter, dig them up right before August, let leaves dry and then cut, then store. This is what Soultan does to his ammies.

Hope that helps. Good Luck!