I dig mine but might be tempted to leave them if I were z7. They aren't too expensive. I did not get blooms on the first batch I bought but did get plenty of flowers this year on a new bag and with the ones I saved. I think they want alot of sun.

They do want full sun and even here in zone 9 they are late season bloomers. You can probably get away with leaving them in the ground over winter and hopefully they will get an earlier start next year. Al

Here's a dissenting view - these are NOT winter hardy in the ground up here in PNW zone 8. They need sun and heat to flower well, so I recommend growing them in containers - the soil heats up faster in spring/summer and you can provide a warm, dry winter by moving them into a garage, etc. for winter.

I think they would be all right in the ground in New Jersey. You probably get a lot more rain in the PNW, Gardengal. I leave mine in the ground in my zone 7 and they winter over without any special care.

Susan

Mine are in full sun until about 5pm, never lifted and have multiplied like crazy. Zone 8B with the heat of zone 9 or 10 but a few winter days in the teens. When we are expecting frost, I hijack some of the horse's hay and cover my little bulb buddies :)

susanlynne, many areas on the PNW actually get quite a bit LESS annual rainfall than you do in NJ - that we are a sorry, soggy lot out here is a very common misconception :-)

I believe the reason Acidanthera do not thrive in this climate is because it is so mild. These bulbs need a long, hot growing season to bloom reliably, which is just not common here. A long growing season, yes, but it never gets very hot here in summer, so I have found growing Acidanthera in containers is the way to go, as container soil heats up much faster in spring than ground soil so growth begins earlier. And one can place the containers where they can receive reflected heat from walls or other structures to encourage blooming.

Well gardengal I think you have freed me from some PNW garden envy. Just a little though because I am sure you can grow many many things I wish I could (or at least don't have to "treat as annual"). I would still trade the heat of our summers for your weather....of course as long as you would take our intense and long winters.

Here as long as you plant them in good sun you get flowers. Unfortunately I have to dig them and try to find a cool place to keep them away from critters and fungus. This is hard at my house

jackie, I guess our individual preferences are a good thing, otherwise we may be all stuffed together in a limited amount of territory :-) We get nice warm summers - low 80's are common but not much above. What we don't have is summer humidity or much snow in winter or hard freezes. Nurseries are open all 12 months of the year and you can garden and plant in January if you want. Yep, it's tough to get tomatoes to ripen unless you start them early and keep them protected from early season cold, but it's pretty easy to create microclimates to do so, as well as getting potted acidantheras to bloom. And yes, our plant palette is HUGE - I'd have a very hard time giving up the selection of broadleaved evergreen shrubs available and hardy here to relocate to an area with more distinct seasonal and extreme temperature changes.

Besides that, it's beautiful here :-))

I always grow mine in pots they bloom late. Maybe middle to late August up to September.

They are still outside in their pots. I bring the pot in to a cool area 50-60 all winter and in april they start poking up from the pots.

i grew my peacock orchids from seed..planted late march 5 in a large pot..a white 1 bloomed in july had torrential rain..lasted 1 hr.another just bloomed on5th aug floresent pink..went out for a meal..came back 4 hrs later it had closed up...any tips??

It sounds as if you have Tigridia pavonia, Peacock Flower. I believe the original post was about Pleione, sometimes referred to as Peacock Orchid. It would be good to know which plant we’re talking about.

Tigridia flowers only last one day.