I am a TOTAL newbee at gardening... I have been inspired by a wonderful Amaryllis my friend gave me this Christmas. Not sure what type of Amaryllis this is... It is the standard reddish/pink with five blooms coming from the top of the stalk. The AMAZING thing is that once it bloomed, faded & dried up, a totally NEW stalk grew and bloomed five more fabulous flowers! Now I want to 1) Nurture the original bulb so it will bloom again next year. 2) Self pollinate it for seeds. I have some questions surrounding these goals: Did the plant bloom twice because the bulb was some sort of "twin"?? 2nd stalk came from the same bulb as the 1st, but from a 2nd area at top of the bulb. Is that common? I have never seen this before, and neither has my friend who is more into gardening than I have been. If I nurture the bulb, should it happen again?? What is the best way to handle the original bulb once the Amaryllis has finished blooming, so it will bloom again. How soon will it bloom again? Next year, or does it skip a year? Should I take it out of soil or let it keep growing?? No idea how to do this... HELP! To self pollinate, do I take some of the pollen on a Q-tip and get it onto the stamen in the center of the pollen bearing stalks? I've read Mymimi43's comments about the blossom end swelling to indicate that the pollination takes, but how long do you let that happen and how do you harvest seeds? I'm sorry I am so unversed in this but I find it fascinating! Figure if I have some success with this, I'll try something more exotic! Thanks Mymimi43, Hans-Werner and Lora!! Holley PS. Photo is of the plant's first set of blooms. This post was edited by KiwiLuv on Sat, Feb 8, 14 at 15:29

08/04/2023 Thank you, mossinajar, for posting your photograph, nine years ago, on your Mutant Avocado seedling. The image provided a link to this webpage when I did a Google search this morning. And thank you very much, gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9), for your very interesting article into the research into this mutation, particularly that which showed that seeds from immaturely harvested fruit would produce this unusual growth at a much higher rate than those harvested later. Thank you also, to all of the other folk that have sent pictures and comments over the years to this page. From time to time, over many years, I have planted avocado stones, indoors, here in London in the UK, but this is the first time, a few days ago, that I had ever seen such a strange growth coming out of an avocado stone. I wondered at first if it was a parasitic growth, maybe some kind of orchid, as the creamy-white growths, to me, did not seem like leaves, but reminded me of a leafless purple orchid that I found, many, many years ago, growing out of the rockery at our family home in Scotland. Our avocado stone had been bought from a local supermarket, and had come from a perfectly normal looking, delicious avocado. Recently their avocados have been coming from Columbia, but I couldn’t swear that this one did, as it was a few weeks ago that I planted the stone, but it would have been from a Central or South American country. Here are three photos that I have taken today, of our little avocado anomaly, alongside ‘cousins’ who have developed conventional growth.

Here are two pictures of "sister" plants. All came from the same originals. Hopefully it will give a better view of the leaf splotches and p-stem coloration. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a386/sfhellwig/leavesandstalk.jpg One on the left is basjoo, other two are sisters to indoor plant. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a386/sfhellwig/bigonesoutfront.jpg Here is the plant just as bloom is emerging. It is obvious it is having a hard time as the leaves had no yellowing just days before. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a386/sfhellwig/beforethefall.jpg And here is the best emerging bloom pic I got. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a386/sfhellwig/emergingwithflagleaf.jpg To clarify what grows here. The yellow blooms are pendant and I was assuming basjoo. None of the nurseries will say, they just agree "yeah, the cold hardy one." Wasn't sure if there was another similar banana that gets sold at run of the mill nurseries. These still require beheading and a mulch cage to keep the stalk. As for the "cavendish" they get pulled every winter. I assume they keep them in a greenhouse because they put them out with green leaves in the spring. However they choose to redo that bed every year there is almost always a bloom on the biggest banana. Around here bananas are largely six months on and six months off. I haven't gotten cold storage down yet and so the one all time indoor plant was the first to give me a flower.

Whoa Josh!!! Gee, thanks for all the neat "links" you posted for me!! I was in reading last night for quite a length of time, & there is much info on alot of this stuff! Now, I'm not sure if Missouri's type of foliage & flowers are similar to ours here in Idaho, as I think they might "differ" a bit... mostly due to our Desert climate right in our area. The MOBOT Herbarium Instruction page was a "mind-blower," as it was some really in-depth reading, and I could go for hours on that one! Wow! I was really glad to hear you know what "Prickly-Pear" Cactus' are, because they grow wild here, by the "scads," and alot of folks use them in their rock gardens & such. When roaming or hiking in the mountains or Desert areas around here, you really have to watch where you're stepping, because of the large groups of them that grow everywhere! I've even seen them growing right out of the tops of lava rocks around here... with no soil!!! Too bad I can't figure out a way to get the beautiful blossoms off of them to "press & dry!" (... that would be a real fiasco` though, because of how sharp they are!) You had mentioned the "Yucca" Plant. That is one I am not very familiar with. I did try to grow some "Yucca" at one time out here, but as usual, I had no luck. It is just too dry on our Ranch here. I will have to ask around & see if folks grow any Yucca around here. I have not navigated around on the Site much here yet, since I have been a Member, so haven't went into the "Native forum" yet... but will do that. Thanks. You are right when you stated that right now, we should have a vast array of tiny flowers & things growing out in the Desert here on our Ranch. Always in the Spring time here in our area, everything of Nature is just loaded with many unusual Spring flowers & foliage. I am hoping to get out and pick some wild "Indian Paint Brush" to press & dry, that's for sure! This was something I wanted to do over the Easter week-end, but our weather was really stormy with alot of high gusts of Wind,... so I couldn't get out to do that. I am like you Josh... not only do I like to attempt to press & dry "flowers," but I also like the foliage... alot of it, & am always so interested in dried "leaves" and such. "Moss" fascinates me too!! I was reading on some of the previous "links" you gave to me on various plants, & it was telling how to "skeletonize" leaves & such... That was quite interesting to me! (maybe something I'll have to try sometime, but realize it's also difficult to do.) As far as me "trading" any plants from your area, I would be willing just to send you some of my Western "sage" foliage from out here... because that's all it is, is "leaves," but I would have to "press & dry" some first. Let me know what you think? Thank you for responding & Posting Josh.. it's always good to hear from you, & I will be in reading more of the info in the "links" you sent to me as well. Take care, & I will anticipate hearing from you again~ Warmest regards, ~ IndianPaintBrush ~