What makes me even more nuts is when catalogs refer to "Garden Amaryllis" as hardy in zones 3-9... and then in tiny print, which the average person would miss, it says they should be lifted in northern gardens. So, most novice gardeners would think, "Oh boy! I can plant these in my zone 5 garden and just leave them!" Disappointment is sure to follow as their "garden amaryllis" bulbs freeze to death over winter. Early on in my gardening "career", I learned NOT to take any zone in any catalog seriously, and to check with at least three other good sources to make sure of hardiness zones. This has saved me a lot of grief and a lot of money! Any bagged bulbs labeled as "Amaryllis", and sold at this time of year, are most likely what the bulb industry calls "Garden Amaryllis"... these are nothing more than smaller Hippeastrum bulbs. I recently bought two of these Garden Amaryllis bulbs, myself. They were labeled as being pink. I potted them up and grew them indoors, along with all my other Hippeastrum bulbs... and was not very surprised to find that the flowers were actually red. I think I have two young Red Lions, or at least two young red mutts. Pretty, though. Buyer beware... always check zones, and if you are so inclined, it's also helpful to check proper names and know what you're getting when you purchase bulbs. Bulbs are wonderful additions to the garden, but some are tender and need to be lifted and stored in northern zones. If you know what to expect, you won't be disappointed!

Yes, I've grown it multiple times. I wish I had the time to plant it every year, usually I buy seeds but they never get out of the packet, alas... Anyway, it's actually pretty easy to grow. Without getting overly verbose and droning on and on as I'm prone to do, I'll leave you with this thought: You can take a lot of the work out of the crop by just growing it in containers to begin with, and taking the entire container to the basement in the fall when it's time. This is how I've done it the last few times, and it worked out well, giving me nice crops. Perhaps others wouldn't think the tending of containers is less work, but I do a couple of hundred pots every year for my patio areas anyway, so what is another 8-10???

I have one that I have had for several years, it is in full bloom right now, has about 25 blooms on it. It is in the greenhouse but never did anything until now I just thought it was something that took special conditions to bloom. I could email a picture to anyone that would like one. The blooms looks like good hummingbird flowers they are about a 2 inch long tube, they are yellowish green on the outside with a pale outlined maroon throat. Jerrie

Why not try to make your own Cocktail tree? Just buy a nice tree from the nursery and see if you can get some different types of budwood from friends. Grafting is surprisingly easy. Here is a link that describes in great detail how to graft (T-budding is easiest). I just tried it for the first time myself about a month ago and out of 8 attempted grafts it looks like 7 took. I did not even have to buy a grafting knife or grafting tape. I just used a razorblade for a shaving safety razor and some teflon tape that I had laying around the house. Here is a link that might be useful: grafting link