Well, I import huge numbers of plants because I can buy them for usually pennies on the dollar....not sure about Crinum, but certainly true for my passion, the aroids. I imported my C. amoenum and can tell you it probably cost 50 cents, or likely even less, per flowering size bulb to import.....I'm guessing you've never imported?? You can import a 25 Kg box of bulbs from India for $75 and a 20 Kg box from Thailand for $90 via DHL Express. The more unusal Crinum that I am aware of from places like Madagascar and Thailand can flower in 4-6 inch pots as you know and I would guess weigh no more than perhaps 100-200 grams each. Assuming they weigh 200 grams then they would cost $1 each to import....not bad, but not the monster bulbs you are familiar with......more of the small pot for the conservatory type I suppose. I guess we are just talking about different things, but I agree, a nice pass-along plant is the best kind to give and receive :o) Dan

Thanks lty! You actually answered my next question - can the amaryllis handle a little shade. It's salmon color is just perfect for a bright shade area I have (very little direct light, but a high canopy, so the whole area is really bright.) I wasn't sure if it would mind being sun-deprived. Sounds like it might prefer it. I should have taken pictures of the crinum yesterday - it goes from a single bloom to a bunch of blooms to one or two left-overs in a matter of days - today it's down to leftovers, by tomorrow, it will probably be done. It's a young bulb, so it doesnt' send up more than one stalk at a time. But I love it's deep pink so much, I'm willing to wait it out a couple years to get them again - and save it from getting crowded out. It's a cheap bulb I bought at HD and I had to wait a couple years before I even remembered I had bought a crinum. That was actually a great day at HD. I also bought a blood lily that day for $1. And it is a brief and sudden joy every year. I can't ever remember when it blooms until it pops up. It's actually seeded a couple little volunteers next to it. No idea how long they will take to bloom, but I'm guarding the area, careful not to disturb them. I also bought a bunch of other $1 bulbs that day that have disappeared, completely unhappy here. Wish I had just loaded up on crinums and blood lillies. I actually decided I'm in love with crinums today and sought out some more bulbs. I have a few young Queen Emma's, given to me at swaps, but I decided I needed a white one today to contrast with them. That started a pathetic, spiraling series of events that lead me to give my credit card number to a nursery in south Georgia that my mother has always loved (Tyty.) Crinums and amarylis bulbs, in pinks, whites and reds, are on the way, along with a yellow Zephyr lily, simply because I've never seen one.

Wow I am so impressed with the crinium pictures! I think I may have seen some while in Florida and just did not know they where criniums! LOL We just bought a place in Bonita Springs Zone 10 I think! We RV'ed for several years and like everyone fell in love with paradise! Now I have to start over once again with a garden... nothing much at my place except some fruit trees YES and I have planted some Banana trees and a gardinia and a meyer lemon. I also got a nice Date Palm at Lowes.... Now I have got to find someone who wants zone 7 plants that I can trade for some more tropical flowers ect. I would love to have a crinium if anyone has extra or anything like ginger ect. Later this fall I may have a few orchids to divide. Love Garden web and the Florida gardening, I have lots to learn.

I am another one to find this blog really really late. I just moved south from the Philly area and am just nuts about the pink crinum lilies =ever since I saw them in a garden tour here in beaufort, SC. I drive down to Delray Beach to take care of my mother in law's house several times a year and if anyone out there has some to share I would love to come a get a couple. Susan