Your bulb in the garden in California may not go into a dormant period, depending where you are in California. Nornally it will bloom in May in the garden. Here in Sunset zone 15 they always go dormant when the weather cools. They are planted with 25% of the bulb above the soil in an area shaded from the west. Drip irrigation keeps them growing all summer. I remove the daughter bulbs and plant them separately. I do not fertilize the planting bed but do keep it fertile by additions of compost spring and fall. Red Lion is probably the most common of the Amaryllis sold for Christmas time blooming. Mine are several different cultivars received as Christmas gifts. Al

I've grown Mister Lincoln on and off for many years, and more often than not it takes on magenta/bluish shades. Those of you that posted magenta pink pics of Mister Lincoln...In my opinion, you definitely have the right variety, sometimes that's just how it looks. It's the marketing for 50+ years that's always described Mister Lincoln as the quintessential red, in truth it's not always that red. Back in the late 60s when it was introduced, I think it was rightly considered very red. But the standard is higher now, with the introduction of roses like Olympiad and Veterans Honor, which are a far purer, true red. Mister Lincoln also opens too fast and doesn't last as long as those newer reds. It is still probably the best of the old 'reds' , a strong grower with very good fragrance. I think Firefighter is the best compromise between old and new reds...it is quite red, still very fragrant, and very generous in bloom.

Thank you all for your ideas and thoughts. I agree, I have been letting it get too cold over the winter, definitely pushing it to its limits, and I should keep it warmer. Even if the cold isn't the problem, extra protection won't hurt. I think maybe I'll add more lights for more heat, maybe wrap them in a spiral on the ground, and wrap the trunk in burlap to hold the heat against the trunk. Last year, I just had 2 floodlights pointed at the ground along with covering the whole thing with a large plastic furniture bag. But on the coldest night last winter, I wasn't home to turn the floodlights on and I think that's what caused the defoliation. I think we got down to about zero degrees F. This winter I'll have to be a little less careless and a little more proactive.

Wow, there is a lot of good information here. Glad I posted with my problem, now I have something new to try out. Thanks owbist. ravencajun, thanks for the compliment but I only had the first half of it figured out and cboy came to the rescue and helped me with the last half of it. I can't take all the credit. "Smiles" Then zep516 came in catching the fact that System Restore wasn't working right and gave me great information on how to correct that. This was the first time that I've had problems with my desktop, but I have changed the backround on it before and I remembered that and I thought why not check it out and see if I could get it to change and that is when I discovered that the backround had been changed and all I had to do was to put it back like I had it, but then I didn't know how to get the icons back and that's when cboy posted the solution for me. If that ever happens to me again I will know exactly what to do. Thanks owbist for telling me how to move the icons down to the taskbar. I will try that on Wednesday, I will have more time to try it out then. thirdfrt!!!