my experiance of 4 years with royal colors says they have the best quality bulbs,if we talk about sizes, colors, exact breed and all. I purchased almost all my bulbs online from royal colors (netherland) and they arrange for me even those varieties that they dont have. So far in Large flowering Amaryllis I got Red Lion, Apple Blossom, Show Master, Charisma, Clown, Herculese, Mont blanc, Picotte, San Remo, Benifica and Susan. In Double Flowering I got Dancing Queen, Red Peacock, White peacock, Jewel, Promise, blossom peocock, Nyph, Lady Jane, Celica, Elvas, Double dragon, Mary lou Others are Papilio Butterfly and Lemon Lime. They send me all top quality bulbs size 36/38 cm. These days I'm trying to increase my each variety through cuttage. I would rather go for 8 pieces of each bulb than 15 or 30 I purchase every year atleast 5 new varities but from today onwards I'm focusing on increasing my lot through cuttage I would never think about using seed propagation method. I can't compromise on colors and breeds. when I have top quality bulbs and mother plants why would I go for self polination when i have cuttage method to maintain my quality. when you have top quality flowers with high colors they look wonderful in a bed, catches everyone's eye. But when you have one bulb of dim color and low standard variety it ruin the beauty of entire bed. I wasn't satisfied with my growing medium I have been working on it for the past few years but a week back one of the top most grower of Amaryllis from Netherland made me a new potting medium and he transfered half of my bulbs into new medium. He made my potting medium with his own hands with Sand, coconut husk, leaf mold, cow's well rotted manure, and lake soil. P.S. In a few days me and my friends are ordering 275 Bulbs from netherland and each bulb gonna cost us Euro Â6 to Â7 along with airfreight shipping charges. Bulb size would be 36/38 Cm , all mother bulbs. I have a complete list and I'm directly in touch with Commerial growers of Amaryllises, Lillium, Gladiolus,Iris,Tulips, Orchids. They are from Netherlands & Holland yaaaaaaaaaaaay. Take care all & Happy Gardening Best Wishes, Ammar.

Hi Wanda: I don't know if this is related but in past years one of my dark wine-red glads has had small, ugly, streaky blooms. This is the first year it hasn't happened. The only thing I did was move all the glads to a spot that receives full sun all day long except in the late afternoon (vs. full sun in the afternoon only, which is where they grew before). As far as possible insect damage, every year I live here I get increased insect diversity and fewer major insect problems so maybe the thrips (if that was causing the trouble) are experiencing more predation this year? The blooms only last a few days, then start to dry. I pull them off so I don't have to watch them wither. It's okay with me because the blooms higher up start to open.

Hi Dafy, Acidanthera is something that had been on my wish list for over 10 years, so when I saw a pack of them for only $2 at a dollar store last year, I got them. They were ok, but compared to the pictures you always seeÂLOTS of flowersÂI was kind of disappointed. There are a lot of buds on each stem, but only one flower on each stem blooms at a time! I had about a dozen of them, and they were only planted a few inches from each other, but I never got a nice "show" like it looks like in the picture you posted! My best advice would be to plant the bulbs practically on top of each otherÂas close together as you can get themÂmaybe an inch apart. That way even if thereÂs only one flower on each stem, itÂll look more like a bouquet than like "individual flowers!" (The flowers really arenÂt that big!) The other thing is, like glads, theyÂre tender bulbs, so if you want to be sure to have them for Â10, you need to dig them in the fall and store them over winter, then replant the following spring. I left mine in the ground! I planned to do that when I put them in! Too lazy to dig things up for winter storage! TheyÂre in a pretty warm corner, so itÂs conceivable that some of them have made it, but I think itÂll be a couple more months before I know for sure. Fairly recently I went out and pulled on the remaining foliageÂand it came off! ThatÂs a bad sign (to me, at least) that they probably didnÂt make it. But IÂve had glads come back, and have had the foliage "rot" off of them too, so maybe they will come back. If they donÂt come back, I wasnÂt impressed enough with them to go to the trouble of getting more and planting them again. ThatÂs the nice thing about having a small yard! When I lose something, itÂs a good thing! I just consider it another place to try something else! :-) So plant them close together and just wait for them! TheyÂre very easy to grow! Just donÂt keep them wet all the time since theyÂre bulbs (or cormsÂor whatever!), and staying too wet will probably rot them. One more thing scratched off my wish list, Skybird

Hello ladies and happy every Holiday I missed. To those of you who do know me, I am back and mentally back on track (I think). To those of you who don't, well I was I am a member, love everyone here. Went away to do some great mission work and had some very tragic things happen. Many hours of therapy later, and actually returning to the Dominican I think I have healed, I am not bitter, sad, or frightened to leave my house any more. I am able to talk about it and I feel that I can share with postive feelings now. But enough of that. Am I to late for April? Please tell me that I can play in April? Max is 4 and we just looked at Co-op preschool. HE is a mama's boy and didn't want to go to big boy school yet. Maryanne~ I have a box for you that I need to send, but um lost your address.. So Merry Christmas when it comes. Ahh. I just don't know what to say or who to say it to because I am scared I will leave someone out. I tried to read as many posts as my brain can handle, but I am sure that I will need some help. Babies and ornaments, tornados and ahhh.. I am not in Kansas anymore. Please feel free to email me with any personals that you'd love to share. I apologize for being gone so long. If there is anything that you want to know email me. If I need to re-join let me know if there is room. Mayanne_ my big sis.. I hope all is well, miss you and thanks for all your support thru this, even though I was a bad lil sis and became an introvert. But guess what? I am back and better. Missed you all Laura.... beans