Beautiful whatever it is Chas at a rough guess I would say a Hippeastrum.
I grow many different ones though none with a flower like that so I am probably wrong..

Looks like one a friend of mine had and she called it a Hippy, isn't it special though. Lovely, I can't grow them.

Yes, I had that growing in Sydney years ago, came up and flowered every spring, I know it but for the life of me I can't think of the name. Golly, it's on the tip of my tongue..... . VALLOTA! That's it, I reckon; Vallota specioso. Of the Amaryllidaceae family, as is hippeastrums.

Good one Bill..
I have one of those Vallota lilies in the garden and three years later it still has not flowered.

Yes, if I remember correctly, misty, so did mine take a few years to flower, needed to mature a bit, I think I thought at the time, but once it did it flowered every year. After that I think I dug it up and divided it and increased my lot. Three years, though, I reckon it should flower this spring, if it doesn't/hasn't I reckon, maybe I'd consider a new spot.

Thanks for all your answers.I looked up the net and these bulbs seem to be a huge family with just subtle changes of form and colours between members.He seems to have a little brother or sister arriving so I hope the family prospers and grows.
chas

May take your advice there Bill seeing Spring has just about finished can you remembered when your Vallota lily flowered.
I had a look at mine and its so small and the label I have written on it reads Vallota/Scarborough lily
Given to me the same time is a Eucharist lily, also known as "Amazon lily" (Eucharis grandiflora) it has never flowered either
I replanted that in a raised garden bed and just looking at it before there are two plants now looking better but never flowered,
Another one from the same family of lilies.

Chas its great to read that you bulb family is increasing and you have found its name

Scarborough Lilly, I remember now that was (is) its common name. I looked up Francis Perry's 'Flowers of the World' and she said the name 'Scarborough Lilly', like that of the Guernsey Lilly, originated as a consequence of the bulbs having been washed up on (an English) shore from a ship wreck. Obviously in this case from HMS Scarborough. She also says it flowers in summer and autumn, and should be grown in a sandy loam and rested after flowering.
Tricia: I've also posted two pics of my flowering clematis and one, Mrs PB Traux, is very similar in form and shape to yours. It's odd really, because another of mine, Miss Falconer is also very similar. The other, which is growing stronger, is Polish Spirit. And, like roses, they said clematis wouldn't grow up here on the cusp of warm temperate and sub-tropical. Mind you, I'm only attempting toughies, but there you go.

{{gwi:2115187}}
{{gwi:2115188}}

From memory, Misty, I think it flowered in summer but it's some years ago now. Also, take a look at Chas's picture, he has it in a pot and it looks like there's 2 or 3 plants in there. Looks a little crowded and yet it's flowering away happy as Larry! Have a look at where yours is, sun or shade; and check out the soil, mine was in pretty well well drained 'bought' soil if I remember correctly.

Thanks Bill.. No such thing at sandy soil where I live its more clay than anything and in the Winter there is shade for half a day, but more sun than anything all the rest of the year..

Lovely Clematis flowers there Bill and good in you for trying to grow them where you live.

Loved those Dahlia pics, Mary-ann, and that camera you're using, blimey, I bought meself a brand new, top of the range, digital Canon Power-shot SX1,15 a year or two ago in Sydney. So damn complicated I'm still trying to work it out; cost me 1200 bucks too. It doesn't capture the detail you have in your pictures!
On your Scarborough lilly: You know Bunnings, and I'm sure other places what sell plants, sell smallish bags of coarse river sand. In places where I want to plant a native or other desirable that requires free-draining soil and all there is where I want to put it is heavy cluggy clay, I mix a spade or so full in at planting time. seems to help, I think. Problem these days where houses are perhaps less than 20 - 30 year old, excavators have been brought in and the top-soil has been bulldozed off to level the site leaving the clay or poorer sub-soil near the surface. Unfortunately you can't educate builders, mostly they couldn't care less, and often they simply bury their rubbish - off-cuts, etc, just where you, later-on, want to plant a garden. I'm always digging up bits of plaster, brick, plastic pipe, pieces of tile, etc. Might be worth considering a spade-full of river sand below your lilly.

Actually Bill we have some of that sand here I will do that tomorrow around the plant and in the Autumn I may dig it up and plant elsewhere.
Thanks for that.. Cameras well Bill I have 3 DSLR cameras and a few lens and they don't come cheap either.. Photography is a very expensive hobby

Mary-ann I also meant to mention, though you are probably no doubt already aware, you can buy a commercial 'clay-breaker' stuff also (I forget the chemical that's used). On cameras, yeah; photography certainly is not an inexpensive hobby.

Yes Bill we have bought many bags of the clay breaker Gypsum to put in the garden soil over the years.

Gypsum, of course, I've looked at the product a hundred times over the years. Let's know how you go and when and if it flowers, Mary-ann.

Bill

Yes I will Bill and Thanks.