So this is my story! When my dad bought our house in La, CA about 25 years ago it came with several Amaryllis bulbs planted along the driveway. I dont know what kind but i will definitely put a pic once they bloom again. But they are like red trumpets on a green stalk. One day maybe when i was like 10 my parents decided to put cement over the strip of dirt where the bulbs were planted. My uncle was gonna throw the bulbs out but my neighbor saw him and asked if she could have them and he said sure. Our house was built in 1944 but i have no clue as to how long the bulbs were there. About three years ago i went over to my neighbors house and she said i could have a pot of the amaryllis bulbs. She had many by now with all the offsets that grew. I planted them all in a sunny area in my backyard along with another amaryllis plant that grew up out of nowhere. I woke up one morning, went to my back yard and saw a bright pink flower between some wood and the cement. very unusual place for a flower. I dug it up and it was very deep in the soil. it didnt have any leaves just the stalk and flowers. and the next year nothing grew up. the year after that it was the first amaryllis to bloom again with no leaves. and this year it only grew leaves but no flower :(. im guessing it was planted toooo deep. It had an offset but i think i put it in my garden somewhere idk. This amaryllis?, not sure if it is but surely looks like it, is the most beautiful amaryllis that ive seen. its bright pink and had about 6 or 7 flowers on its single purple/brown stalk. I planted it in a differnt area and it did not take well. just yesterday I put it in a pot with good soil and put it in a sunny area. Hopefully it grows back so i can get it identified as well and also pollenate it!!!! I think it has a good chance of surviving. I actually cut a little off the top of the bulb like a couple centimeters or two just so its neater but idk hopefully i didnt kill it. And about a couple months ago I pollenated all my flowers and I got the 12 + pods of seeds from my neighbor and planted them. I had to throw some into the garden because there were so many. I actually check my planted seeds every other day and they are taking root so yay!! I will have a lot! So if annnyone ever wants to trade for other amaryllis bulbs let me know! idk if i can ship bulbs in the mail? Can i? Would i ship it in a little baggie of soil? idk Well thats how i came to love Amaryllis and im only 18 so lets see how long my passion lasts. Im guessing forever! If you have any advice or suggestions please let me knowww :D

Before a Hippeastrum bulb can be put through a dormancy to help force flowering, it first must have a decent period of sunshine, proper watering and fertilizing, and good care so it can build up its energy reserves. Normally, Hippeastrum bulbs are purchased in late fall to bloom around Christmas. (This is normal for the US, though... I'm not certain about Australia.) They are primed to bloom by the growers, and sold ready to plant and enjoy the forthcoming flowers. Following these blooms at Christmas, the bulb will begin to grow leaves and will require lots of light and a good watering and feeding schedule in order to rebuild the energy it just expended to bloom. Once the weather in your area warms up, and all danger of frost is over, you can allow your bulb to summer over outdoors, where it will get optimum sunlight, and you'll want to feed it and water it carefully. Around the second week in August, you'll want to stop watering and place your potted bulb in a cool, dark place so it can rest. A basement or a garage that doesn't freeze, or even a cool, dark room or closet in your home will do. The leaves will die back and the bulb will go dormant. It will require about 8 weeks of dormancy. At this point, keep checking your bulb and when you see new growth begin, bring the pot back into a warm, bright room and resume watering. Your bulb should bloom within another 8 weeks, or thereabouts. Of course, you'll need to adjust the months according to your own winters and summers. I grow mine in the northern hemisphere, so my schedule would be a bit different. Not to confuse you, but Hippeastrum bulbs can also be grown as regular houseplants, and never need to be forced into dormancy. This is how I grow mine. They flower naturally in spring, so I care for them indoors all year long, and allow them to rest and grow as they see fit. They lose leaves and rest occasionally, and then they grow a new set of leaves... and each spring, they flower. 32 degrees F would be too cold for a Hippeastrum bulb, and they should be kept from freezing! 5 weeks would not be a long enough dormancy for a Hippeastrum bulb... they would require between 6-12 weeks of rest, depending on how you have cared for your plant and other factors. I'm including 2 links... the one directly below is to McGuire's Hippeastrum Farm in Australia... they may be a better place for you to contact about growing in the southern hemisphere, so copy and paste it into your browser and check them out. The other link below gives a good explanation of how to make your bulb flower again. Good luck! Here's the link to McGuire's: http://www.maguireshippeastrumfarm.com/ Here is a link that might be useful: How To Make Your Amaryllis Bloom Again

I got, I think, 14 bulbs. Everyone of them bloomed and was gorgeous! Maria,I can not say why the Ones in Taiwan bloomed so beautifully for them, but I wonder if perhaps the difference between your weather and mine was why mine did so well and yours didn't. My climate is so much cooler, I think they just considered it was fall for them instead of spring, and went ahead and bloomed in (I think) October. It took them a long time to root, so once they were rooted about August-Sept I started seeing them putting out leaves and scapes. Mine spent the summer outdoors on a table, seldom watered since I was so busy in my big gardens. Our summers are mostly dry after July 4, and though we had one short heatwave up to 106 degrees, the rest of the summer was mostly under 75 with many cloudy dry days. Kaitlin, Naomi, whispering Wind,Lemon SPlendor,, Boysenberry Swirl,Emerald Star,, Brendan's Flower,, Elaine grace, Emerald Star Emerald Star Forest Fire, My Party Pooper...last to bloom so truly a Party Pooper, another view of Forest Fire, showing the flames, , Anita,

Josh, love the color and the form, but I am skipping out on Maguires orders for a while. What was Envy supposed to look like? Is that a little splash of white in the upper right? Pretty color!! Kristi