I'm excited to see the flowers! H. reticulatum if I remember correctly flowers in the fall/winter, I wonder if this has something to do with it's odd flowering schedule?

My neon rose bloomed earlier this summer - after blooming in the fall and now my Elvas has put up a scape too - i do have them outside - so maybe they are reverting to a natural schedule.

Greetings from my Jewel. It's outside on my western window sill. The wind is usually coming from that direction and we had some rainy storms the last time. So the Hippis on this side of my flat had to deal with severe wind and rain. Maybe it was the stress that caused this scape? Well, Jewel is growing new leaves too, I think it will be ok. And I'm going to enjoy the flowers :-)

The funny thing is that I didn't see this scape when I watered the plants 2 days ago. I just discovered it yesterday. I must have been blind...

Anja

My H. Pink Glory had a scape coming too. In the house in a west-facing window.

Hi Anja,

I don't think you're blind, I just think they're really fast at growing scapes :-)))) I had the same thing happen to my Autumn Pink Lady that I purchased from Komoriya this past winter. It grew beautifully striped leaves this spring and in a short period of time, then all of a sudden and to my complete surprise...a scape popped out of nowhere!!! I didn't expect anything until next year due to the size of the bulb, but now It's about flower and I will post a picture as soon as it does. I love these summer surprises and I hope you enjoy yours too :-))))

Warm Regards,

Fred

....In very dry Cambridge, MA where we've had just enough rain to dampen an ant's antennas :-))))

And in Spring, TX we've had 9.68" of rain (official county rain gage near my home). Two more days of it.

Hi Kristi,

Can you please send some our way??? We're officially in an extreme drought in the surrounding Boston Area and in an exceptional drought in the eastern part of the state :-((((((

Fred

Fred, we're suffering the same as you just a few miles further south!! The worst summer heat wise I've ever lived through and the drought, well nothing for nearly 3 months now. Every time I see the storms go all around us and hear that here and there they got 2" of rain, I nearly start to cry..seriously...you are not alone in your misery...

On another note, the other day I noticed a Double Dream sending up a scape and this morning I went around for a round of heavy feeding and Cherry Nymph has a scape up about 6 " and one of my Evergreens is just pushing out a bud. These plants are all outside so I guess they like these ungodly temperatures.

Donna.

Hi Donna,

Same thing here...and if I hear one more person from work say that they got a wonderful downpour last night, I'ma smack em' upside the head!!!

Fred

Hi Donna,

I forgot to ask you, what do you feed your hippies during the summer and how often?

Fred

Hi Donna and Fred,

I feel with you! Since I have a garden (And mine ist to far from my home to go there everyday) I watch the weather forecast hoping for rain. Berlin is rather dry, especially in spring and summer, but luckily it wasn't to bad this year. I hope you will get some rain soon!

Yesterday my sister-in-law sent me a photo of the Dancing Queen I gave her 2 years ago (trying to infect the family...) - blooming. She lives in the south of Germany so they seem to send up scapes in many parts now.

Anja

Fred,

Earlier this season when I had just put them out for the summer I sprinkled a granular fertilizer along with imidacloprid. Then about once a month I added a nearly full strength dose of Miracle Grow to either spur them on or kill them!!

Don't anyone worry though... I always either bring them in before the flowers open or actually just pick the stem so as not to harm any bees or insects!

Anja, about 2 months ago my Dancing Queen sent up a stray bloom but there were only 2 flowers and they were very pale. I'm sure your sister-in-law's flowers are better!!

And Anja, I tossed those seeds, the envelope was quite crumpled along its journey to nowhere!!☺☺ We'll try again next year....☺☺

A scape is coming on Sweet Lillian too! I hope this means lots of blooms this spring as well!

PS...this is what the sky looked like at 1 pm here today.

Looks menacing!!!!!!

Just rain. Maybe you've forgotten what a good soaker looks like!

Not only did I forget what it looks like...I think I forgot what it feels like :-))))

...or that sort of sweet smell when the earth gets wet after a long dry spell...

Fred,

That is just a splendid picture of Autumn Pink Lady; beautifully shaped flowers as well as there being 4, and the leaves are to die for as well!! Congratulations!!

We got 5/8" of rain and was I pleasantly surprised this morning when I went out on the deck to measure our usual 10th of an inch!! You got the jackpot and I'm happy for you!! Lets enjoy it for a few days as the hot dry stuff is coming back to stay with a vengeance!

All your plants look very healthy, lets hope they can stay out for a few more months....

Donna

Hi Donna,

Thank you for the sweet compliment and I'm glad you got some rain too :-)))

Fred

I have a surprise Red Lion scape developing, too. First time in a long time that I've had one in the summer. This was taken about a week and a half ago, so it's about 4 inches taller now.

Dear Fred! Congratulations! Your Autumn Pink Lady beautiful!

It is a pity that I can not send you and Donna the rain over the ocean! I would like to share))

Best wishes,

Elena.

Fred, what a beauty! I just love those stripes :-) And the flowers are gorgeous too.

Donna, I planted 6 seedlings of your Eyecatcher x Santos but I can't detect any stripes yet. They are under LEDs now (like all my freshly planted seedlings), maybe the stripes need sunlight to develop? There is still hope :-)

Anja

Anja,

I just planted 5 of my Eyecatcher x Santos and I can't detect any stripes on mine either. Possibly one. The stripes should be evident right from the get-go like this Santos x Chico.

Next year I'll surely have more seeds that should produce stripes for you.....

If after a few months you don't detect any stripes, you might want to just toss these. Space being a problem for most of us there's no sense in growing Eyecatcher x Santos which might be an OK flower, but without the stripes probably won't be anything too special. I'll probably harden my heart and do the same in a few month. I do have a few more seeds so I'll try a few more this winter.

Elena,

Thanks for your offer to ship over some rain!! Fred and I were hoping that Kristi and Maida would send some of theirs up from Texas, a little closer, but obviously not close enough, we're still waiting......

Donna

Hi Anja,

Thank you :-))) Hopefully she'll flower again next spring and I'll try to collect the pollen and maybe do a few crosses too.

Hi Soobie,

Congratulations she looks very happy and healthy!!! Please post a picture when she flowers :-)))

Warm Regards,

Fred

Here we go! I just couldn't wait untill it the flowers open completely... I guess Jewel is the only double I really like. Enjoy!

Donna, I'm not going to toss those seedlings if they are doing fine. I'll wait for the flowers and maybe (!) give them away if they are "just ok"

Santos x Chico sounds very good! I'm looking forward to see the flowers...

Anja

Hi Anja,

That is very pretty, it almost looks like it has a split cup. Sort of like a split cup narcissus.

Warm Regards,

Fred

How did I miss this?! I just watered it yesterday and the bud was well hidden behind the leaf!! This is pumiceum x papilio bulb # 2 from Ray. This one hasn't bloomed yet; I'm so excited!! I wonder if it will be like the other or from a different seedling?

Ho Donna,

What a wonderful summer surprise!!!! Send pictures when they bloom. Where did the insects bore the holes??? I hope it wasn't in the bulbs by those $#@%&*! narcissus bulb flies!!!!

Fred

No Fred, the holes were in each bud, I guess they wanted to see what was inside! Remains to be seen if they are any holes in the flowers....☺

H. Sweet Lillian blooming in the summer? Anyone besides me think this is odd? And a glimpse in the GH during a downpour! (Ray, it can stop any time!!)

Hi Kristi,

What a beautiful summer treat, my Sweet Lillian gave up the ghost long ago :-(((

Fred

Well, here is my summer Double Dream! She is pale because of all the extreme heat but very beautiful none the less with, stripes!!

Actually, I just looked at my pictures and she's not all that different! I never noticed that she does have faint striations even in the cold weather. Here she is blooming in Jan. The white undersides seem to curl over more for a two tone effect though. These are different bulbs....

Kristi, your Sweet Lilian looks very nice. Mine did the same last year and then she flowered again in spring. Yours seem to be more colorful than mine. I guess sunlight is much stronger in Texas. This year mine seems to concentrate on growing offsets. I would send you one, Fred, if it was possible.

Donna, your Double Dream is stunning! I like the summer flower better, it looks more natural.

The other two flowers of my Jewel are perfect single! I couldn't resist and put Santiago on one and Rebecca on the other to get more fragrant flowers :-)

Anja

My H. Pink Glory blooms are much prettier than they were in the winter months.

Cherry Nymph with 4 flowers out!! Sorry my big feet got in the picture! It's really more red than this orangey photo and the petals look like corduroy....

Donna

Here is Evergreen with 8 flowers, (not all out yet) and second scape on the way!!!

Donna! How lovely! Very beautiful flowers!

All have the flowering season!

So much beauty!

Best wishes,

Elena.

Thank you!!

Here is my last summer bloom to bloom, puniceum x papilio bulb # 2 from Ray. These flowers are not as colorful as the ones from last year from a different bulb. I know there are only 2 flowers but this cross does produce 4 flowers as they did last year. I'm assuming that this isn't a different seedling and that they all came from the same clump?

Here is this year's, the flowers are tiny, 3" across and 4" high as they were last year.

and last year's...

Donna

Very beautiful!

H. Mrs. Garfield should bloom tomorrow! Has anyone had luck putting her pollen on anything? Would like to get those striped leaves.

Look what I just found!!!

It appears to be a conjoined flower of Giraffe, too bad it didn't make it up a few more inches, it might have been beautiful!! But, then again, maybe it was just two flowers that bloomed simultaneously, hard to tell as they're all squished together.

This is in a pot of golf ball sized offsets that I potted up last year after the mother bulb faded away, so it's not a very large bulb. I have Giraffes twice this that don't want to bloom!!

Donna

Hippeastrum cybister is sending up a scape, it is a seed grown plant from seed from Bolivia, I'm interested to see if there are any differences from H. 'Chico'. I guess we will see soon!

I've got two blooming now, Lima and a small unknown red.

Maida

My summer surprise Red Lion scape, from earlier in this thread, opened this week.

Hi Sue,

Very beautiful...I have always loved this classic red blooming hippie. What a wonderful treat for the end of summer.

Fred

Excellent floral shape! I do not think that this is "Red Lion" though. It looks more like an "Orange Sovereign" but I think, it is yet another hybrid.

Beautiful!!

Haweha, this scape bloomed out much paler than it usually does when the flowers develop in the winter. Probably because of the heat.

Of course it could be a different hybrid or a NOID, but it has always before looked like a classic Red Lion, and that's what it was labeled as (for whatever that's worth, with all the rampant mislabeling).

I've had this bulb since 2008, and this is it's ninth blooming for me!

Very beautiful!