I have lots of them, they multiply rapidly. All of mine are outside where they do very well. Each plant only goes through one bloom cycle per year, however the foliage remains until frost and is attractive until then. I do keep them all in large pots, three or four to the pot. This time of year I have them out of their pots,divided,sulfured and stored, ready to repot in new soil. Al

Thank you. I did not lift mine, just left them in the pots until time for repotting in spring. I will try your method next season.

Repotting is not a requirement of the bulb. The potting soil breaks down and the plant does better with fresh soil. If you let it go for three or four years the pot will be full of roots and drainage will be poor enough to rot the roots.. Al

I was not very clear when I responded: until now, I have not lifted the bulbs after they died down, as you do. I have just left them in their pots. I do not water them during dormancy. In spring, I lift and repot them before starting the watering cycle again. As I mentioned though, I will try your method this autumn - for one, not having the large pots in the greenhouse will give me more room.

Al, I wonder what you fertilize them with? Bulb fertilizer or what? I have lots of these and want to get them to blooming size. Last year I planted a row in my vege garden and dug in compost first, but they didn't increase in size much.

All my Hymenocallis are planted in pots with a fast draining commercial(not bagged)potting mix. For all my pots I use 18-6-12 timed release fertilizer. Because pots are not permanent and contain no soil, I use commercial chemical fertilizer which feeds the plants and does not improve the potting mix. In my garden I use no chemicals of any kind as I am building the soil food web which feeds the plants. When I suggest using a chemical fertilizer I always feel compelled to explain why. Al

I grow Hymenocallis in the ground all year, and you're in a warmer zone than me; they're perfectly hardy here, and bloom pretty consistently. We probably do get less rain than you in winter (although we do get a reasonable amount), but you could counter that by providing more drainage (planting in a gritty raised bed or over a French drain) or even tenting a piece of translucent, corrugated plastic sheeting over the bed for the winter. This is how I've managed growing Ammocharis (another amaryllid that needs a drier winter rest) in a wetter zone than it would prefer.

Another problem with Hymenocallis is that they tend to propagate themselves vegetatively, annually splitting up into smaller bulbs that never attain enough size to bloom. There's even a clone being traded around with the "claim to fame" of being "neverblooming" because of this tendency - in my opinion, not reason enough to waste garden space! Deep planting of individual bulbs will tend to discourage splitting, thus encouraging the bulbs to increase in size and put their energy into producing seeds rather than offets (via blooming), so this might be another reason to grow the plants in the garden rather than pots.

bubba62 makes some interesting points. When I repot mine they are always deeper in the pot than when planted. I always remove the splits and plant most of them in their own pots. From my experience Hymenocallis like tulips will not bloom from a bulb less than about 12cm. Of course they are perfectly hardy here and I grow them in pots for the flexibility of being able to move them around when in bloom. From a started split to blooming size requires at least two years. My mature bulbs are about the size of a tennis ball after 3 or 4 years blooming. Al

Great information, thank you all. My bulbs do indeed have a lot of offspring. I will plant them deeper and in even larger pots to see if that will make a difference. I will also try planting some outdoor - if "bubba62" can do so in zone 7, I may be able to do the same in 8.

"bubba62", what is your minimum temperature? I assume your area is colder than our zone 8, but I am not sure how much colder. We do get quite a lot of rain, but I intend to grow them near the house, under overhang - that should help.

I lifted the pots yesterday and the bulbs have indeed split into lots of smaller ones.