Hi, djacobz568sewi.

No, they are not native to Australia, but are originally South American bulbs, and due to their great popularity are now grown widely throughout the world. We are very lucky here in Australia as they do well in our climate. My collection is only extensive as the climate here makes for such easy growing.

In general, you will not have any luck growing bulbs outside in low/freezing temperatures. Some people try growing them outdoors in sheltered positions up against warm walls and mulched well to protect from the cold over the winter months, but most bulbs are lost each winter under these cold conditions. They are naturally warm-weather bulbs from mild to tropical climates.

You could try keeping it in a pot and growing outside in the warmer months, and then bring your bulb inside to over-winter in the house. There is a lot of info here on the forum from more experienced cold climate growers, and their info will guide you to the best way of doing this.

If it was me, I would just go ahead and buy a bulb of choice. Enjoy the remarkably lovely flowers brightening up the house, and then take a chance on growing it on successfully to see if it will re-bloom in the future!

Julie

Hi Julie,

Every delicious loom is just mouth watering :-))) Thank you for taking the time to upload them, I have enjoyed each and every one of them.

P.S. I'm coming to your house :-))))

...looking forward to your visit, Fred :)

Thanks Julie for uploading the pics since nothing is blooming now :) your flowers are so vibrant and beautiful!

Hippeastrums can certainly be addicting. I am just starting to catch the bug here in Minneapolis, which of course means pots, rather than outside. Dramatic plants even when not in bloom but so much more when they flower!

Hi Old Dutch,

Welcome to CHAD (Compuslive Hippeastrum Acquisition Disorder) I caught it many years ago and I'm afraid to say...yer a gonner :-))) At least, you're among friends and fellow CHAD sufferers.

Guess I will add that to my passion for garlics, daylilies, tomatoes, chilis, and ... :-)

Up north here in USDA zone 4 my first Sonatini's burst into bloom this past week. I put three Fire Dancer into a 6" azalea pot, and they never hesitated. There are now 8 flowering stems and three of them have open blooms. How they will be in future years is beyond me, but they sure are easy this first year. The one Lemon Sorbet bulb has two stems and I expect the first flowers there in the next week. This is exciting. First snow this morning; so the excitement has to stay indoors at least until I acclimatize to freezing temps! The paperwhites in the bulb glasses are developing a very good set of roots, too. This year I am trying Galilee instead of Ziva. Some friends find Ziva's aroma to be really foul.

If I can get decent pictures I will post. I am not very good with a camera.

Good luck with your bulbs, OldDutch, - I hope they all do well for you.

Back here I also have a few more opening, and the first is Maguire's 'Queen of the Nile'.

...a soft unnamed pinky-red and white from Kangaroo Island.

Loading photos seems a little easier today for some reason, so I will go ahead and post a few more for you....finally my 'Flamenco Queen' has flowered, and I'm thrilled to find it actually true to name. I have had quite a few mislabels this year, so it was a relief to find this one blooming and looking just as it should. Hopefully next year it should be bigger and better.

This one is another unnamed one from Kangaroo Island. It is very star shaped and has a nice upward looking bloom. I would have preferred it as a plain white, though.

No scent, unfortunately.

And my 'Charisma' starting to open up.....

This one is interesting. It is another seedling flowering for the first time from Maguire's 'Ada's Flower' and so far it is a nice soft creamy-white, with lots of tiny spots. I will post another photo when it has fully opened to give you a better look.

This one was a mislabel and was supposed to be 'Naranga' but instead turned out a lovely rich red with slightly pointed petals. I'm still trying to figure out what it might be, but I am very pleased to have acquired it. It is a nicer red than what it shows here ( that dreadful camera of mine again ) and has deeper red rays emanating from the centre and also wavy/crimped inner petals.

Any guesses?

...and another mislabel. This was sold as 'Red Rascal' but appears that it could be 'Twinkle Star'!

Another seedling that has turned out it be a mid orange. Flower is quite large. I am hoping that next year the shape will improve...still, not too bad for its maiden bloom. And of course, I'm always smitten with orange hippies, so it has that in its favour already! It's a strong grower, and will make a nice plain garden hippy in the future.

( just noticed that it is scented as well - that's a plus!)

So many beauties! These are my only bloomers this time around, but they have done real well:

My camera does not do justice to Lemon Sorbet. The three Fire Dancer bulbs on the right in a 6" azalea pot have about a dozen open blooms on their 8 flower stalks. I never saw anything like it. The bulbs are all going soft, but they are outputing so much that is about what I would expect and hope to rebuild them on their foliage later on.

Hi Julie,

They're all sooo beautiful :-)))) Thank you for taking the time to upload them. Naturally, we're all jealous as all get out of your luscious growing area and explosion of mouthwatering blooms. Keep 'em coming girl :-)))))))))

Thank you, Fred. It's a rather crowded area, that's for sure.

Here are a few more that have opened over the last few days......

'Charisma'

My seedling from Maguire's 'Ada's Flower' has now opened and has quite a large bloom with a very distinct profile.

This is one I like very much, but it is an unknown vintage bulb. A lovely rich orange/red.

Maguire's 'Guyra'. It has a very large flower, but I feel this one would do better in the ground than stuck in a pot. It feels like it needs space to reach its true potential as sadly the blooms are never fully expanded while growing in a pot.

An unidentified vittatum.

The lovely Maguire's 'Margie Bruton'....

Maguire's 'Envious Lady'.

Hi Julie,

On this very cold day (13F this morning) these beautiful pictures are sure helping to bring a warm smile to my face :-)))

I second that! It might even warm up to freezing tomorrow around here. Flowers are a sanity factor as November goes all cloudy and dreary.

Your 'Envious Lady' is very similar to 'Lemon Sorbet' in the Sonatinis with the later just a very little bit more yellow, a very refined, beautiful color, but not one that photographs well.

FWIW the third bulb in my 6" pot of 'Fire Dancer' now has its third flower stem making a total of 9 flower stems in that one small pot, and no staking actually needed either. I sorta gotta wonder if there is going to be anything left to rebuild for future seasons... If not, what I got this season is way beyond my expectations! I never had these before so learning over the next few months is going to be a new experience. They have already been more than worth what I paid for them anyway.

Thanks, Fred, and OldDutch. Glad to hear that they are cheering you up a little. There are still a few more to go that are later blooming bulbs. I'll continue to post as they come along.

In the last few days these have made an appearance........

Maguire's 'Cheryl's Beauty' with it's gorgeous colour and large flowers...

And Maguire's 'Orange Jester'....not looking nearly as luminescent as last year. In fact all the bulbs are looking as though they need a change in their feeding programme. I'm going to start back on the Dynamic Lifter and Blood and Bone and see what that does for me next year. The slow release pellets and occasional water soluble fertilizer I've been using is not giving me as good results this year for some reason.

And this one is flowering for the first time...

Maguire's 'Morning Dancer'.

...all three together.

this morning dancer is stunning!

All You Australian friends: Are You safe? These news about the bushfires are horrible!

Take care of You and Yours. Climate changes everywhere

Oh I second that!!!!! They're all BEAUTIFUL :-))) but Morning Dancer is absolutely stunning.

Thank you for the concern over the recent bushfires. They have been terrible. Even where I am there are days I can smell smoke, and we have had fires only a kilometer or so away with local evacuations necessary, but luckily nothing too close to me for the moment. I wish others well that find themselves in fire prone areas.

Here is another pic of 'Morning Dancer' now the bloom is fully open. I must say it is a brighter flower than what I expected. It looked a deeper pink on the old Maguire's website. She is a large bloom as well!

Hi Julie,

On this cloudy, cold and dreary Monday morning, thank you for this beauty to help brighten my day.

Julie, these are gorgeous!!! I appreciate your taking time to post so we can all share in the beauty of these flowers.

jstropic, I'm glad that you have been enjoying them. The main hippy flush is now over, but there are still some late bloomers coming along.

My table of Maguire's bulbs have had a hard year without much care spent on them, and have been kept very dry over most of this year while my attention has been focused elsewhere in the garden, and it is now showing in the poorer bloom quality this year. Still, they are doing their best, even if they are not so wonderful this season.

Here are a few of them struggling on.....

Maguire's 'Pink Perfection'

Maguire's 'Keilmount Madonna' looking a little stressed out.

Maguire's 'Harbour Lights' looking very unlike her usual self! I would never have guessed this was the same plant if I had not known. Her shape is almost unrecognizable.

Last is a seedling from USA bought seed that was supposed to be 'Terra Cotta Star' but looks more like 'Flamenco Queen' parentage. Disappointed after waiting so long for this one, as I have always admired 'Terra Cotta Star' and was hoping for something similar as we don't have it available here. At least the imposter has turned out to be a cheery bright flower.....

Hi Julie,

Even though you say they're "stressed out and disappointing" I think they look glorious :-))) Again thank you for helping to brighten our gloomy November days with some much needed color.

I have to offer my thanks as well. Cold, cloudy and, sometimes, rainy here in New Hampshire. Really enjoying your marvelous images. Thanks for sharing.

I'm glad they have brought you both a little cheer into your winter months. There are not many left now, but I will keep posting as long as they keep blooming!

My thanks also. That seedling that didn't turn out, you did get a very nice picotee. That is the nature of our seedlings from what are already mostly hybrid strains, which is what many of our named varieties that are cultured vegetively are. Some types more apt to breed true than others.

Almost finishing up now....here are some of the last -

Maguire's 'Brendan Paul'

A brave flowering of an unrooted ' Mandela' trying to do its best in the hot weather. Next year it should put on a good performance. The colour is a deep lush black/red and not the colour that shows on my camera.

Here is that 'Ada's Flower' seedling that I had last year with the starfish shape to the bloom. It is a very robust plant with many off-sets already.

Sonatini 'Alaska'

A young seedling of Maguire's 'Milady's Magic' looking very like it's parent. Next year should show better colouring, and hopefully some of it's siblings in the same pot will also flower.

And last, a unnamed/unknown orange....

.....also, I have only now noticed I have misnamed one of my Maguire's above. The 'Pink Perfection' should read 'Pink Supreme'!

Wow Julie, lots of beautiful spots!! Also love the ones you have with lots of veining.
Funny isn't it how the flower can change from first bloom or when stressed.

Julie,

They're all very beautiful and thank you for sharing :-))))