I have penstemon cyananthus, phygelius rectus 'moonraker' and a few arisaema congestiflorum.

light or no light, it really doesn't matter. Mine all get light and are sown on top of the seed starting soil. The freshness of the seed is the indicator for soaking or not soaking. If the seed is a translucent green and fresh, I don't soak. If the seed skin is more brownish or the seed slightly wrinkled then it gets soaked for at least 24 hours. Don't knick the seed as it doesn't have a hard seed coat, just a skin. You can carefully remove the skin over the micropore if you want but you don't really need to. The soil needs to be consistantly moist (not wet). Your biggest threat is fungus, so plan to have a fungicide ready just in case the seed becomes infected. I plant mine under plastic domes. When the leaves touch the top of the dome, I remove it. Just remember through their life they like a fast draining planting medium more like orchids. Let it go to the dry side before watering again. Bloom time is about the time they get their 13th leaf and a few weeks of cool weather to set the bloom bud in the meristem. Put them outside in a shaded area for a few weeks in the fall and bring them in before first frost, or put them in the garage for 4 to 6 weeks in late fall (a garage that will not let them freeze). Just remember that for the most part do nothing to try and set a bloom until the plant has at least 13 leaves. This is usually about the time the plant is 3 years old. Hope that helps. I have about 1,200 of these. Jim Black Near Tulsa,OK Zone 6b

No one is against taxonomy and nomenclature, they are a MUST. I know there are rules that applies, but the "by the book" attitude that prevailed then and now is very sad and VERY WRONG, whatever the reasons are to support such a closed up mind attitude. It is not because there is a book that analysis, common sense and judgment shouldn't have a place in the room of decision, which was not really the case as we understand history today. The "bunch of uneducated people" were mostly very renowned scientists, botanists, taxonomists, person who discovered species, persons who first described a species and the location where it was found, even persons that gave their name to some species. These peoples were just as well informed and educated as their opponents if not more. Gosh sometime I wish I was that uneducated!!!... (: This is most certainly not the first and only taxonomy mistake that was ever made by some nomenclature scientists. There is nothing wrong in admitting that there could be a mistake, have a serious and in depth analysis made and may be change their mind. No need to change historical facts, just take into account the reality of then and now, make a very good analysis of what is involved, use good old common sense and above all sound judgement, and why not write a new page in history? There could could be others solutions to this problem as well, but keeping the hard line is NOT one that is acceptable. But of course, there is nobody that oversees what is going on in this field, except KAVB, which IS the one supposed to play a very big part, but what do they do? All they do is register new Dutch Hybrids almost exclusively while they are supposed to deal with the whole world in the whole amaryllis field. If you visit their site, it is in Dutch only. How inviting!... So let's keep the strict by the book attitude, and in 20, 50 years, peoples of then will still be fighting to implement the word "hippeastrum" without much success as it has been the case for many decades (7?) now. Everybody will be a looser, only the poor short vision scientists of the past will be the winners. Open up our minds, lets have a second look at the things, put some analysis, common sense and judgement, and everyone can win, in less than 5 years, the subject will only be a bad memory. That change was a short vision and very sad mistake. There are better solutions than saying: we are wrong, we know we are wrong, we will not change, so deal with it. Got to go, I have to water my amaryllis now! Laurier

hi you got mail from willy46 for sase send stamps and bubble E to you . or can check my seeds? list email to you.ID willy46 web gardens