Kristi, So sad, but at least there's a way around it. Good luck with your bulb and thanks for the tip about filling the scape with water. I had never thought of that.
Kitty

Thanks for the great tip Kristi. I have often splurged out and bought cut hippie stems, they cost an arm and a leg so it's worth a try to get them to last a bit longer.
Thanks for sharing.

I hope your Giraffe bulb heals well... and I hope you don't have to cut the flower. At least is you do, you can make it last for a while.

I will once again pass on my favorite tip for cut flowers that I learned in my business. You can make your own "Flower food" to keep your amies looking nice for longer in the vase. The primary problem with cut flowers is bacteria growing in the water and plugging up its intake. TO prevent this, make a solution based on the measurements for a gallon of solution...reduced to the size of your vase. For one gallon of water add 2T of sugar and 1 tsp of bleach. And if your water is at all hard add up to 2 T of white vinigar to it also. (I found that the vinigar attracted fruit flies and my water is more on the acid side so I do not use the vinigar. Other acid solutions also work, from dissolved aspirin, to citric acid (lemon juice). And anytime your water begins to look cloudy, change the water pronto! Also, make sure your vase has been throughly washed in the dishwasher or is sterilzed in another way.

I never worry about filling the stem with water. I suppose it might help but they last a long time in water anyhow, and are designed to take up water in the stem. We use methods like filling the stem with water for really tall flowers like delphinium or lupin.

I hope he blooms without issue for you Kristi! After mine flowered, I pulled him out of the pot and found some mushiness just on the surface too. These are interesting bloomers as the scapes come from the outside of the bulb, not the inside from what I can tell? It looks wild!

I wasn't able to get either scape to take pollination, but I think the others I pollinated with the Giraffe pollen are going to make it. Woo-Hoo! They will be interesting to see when they bloom!

Good luck and can't wait to see the pics!

-Frank

I vaguely remember an experiment done in Physics with water and different shapes of water recipients communicating between them. Without wanting to annoy anyone... I believe that the water recedes to the level of the water in the vase after you fill the stem with water anyway.

sorry for disturbing

The bubble in top of the tube represents water loss when I tipped the tube to put it in the water (the opening was too big for me to put my finger over and I didn't want to damage my scape). This is why it's important to put a finger over cut end of the scape to prevent water loss. You don't want a bubble at the top of the scape, which is also a closed tube. Also, since the scape is permeable tissue, it is important to change water ever 3 days. This scape has been in water for a couple if weeks since the scape started failing from the bottom up.

Back to the original topic.....
The bulb mentioned originally in this post, Giraffe, rotted down to nothing but an empty shell with only the outer layers present. After I recovered from the smell I cleaned the bulb out well with high-pressure water out of a garden hose and then dusted it liberally with Captan powder. I think it bloomed last year but this year has grown a lot and currently putting out 2 scapes!

K
PS to physics wizards...so, if a straw is put in a vase the water in the straw will quickly settle to the water level in the vase, right?? _______ I always thought open vessels (straw) would level out but that a closed container (tube) wouldn't as it isn't affected by the same pressures as the open straw.

This years pot of Giraffe is starting to bloom

{{gwi:377460}}

Kristi did the giraffe bulb you hosed out, fill in the cavity with roots or did it just crust over? Is there still a cavity,?

Wow Pat!! The color this year is great!

Devon, it gradually filled in with a new bulb. AMAZING!
K

Giraffe inherited Papillio requirements for more oxygen and no standing water on its roots. Add more perlite to the mix. Dig out the soil to the roots level. If you feel the need for covering the bulb,use pure perlite or similar.Papilio loves water and fertilizer,but must have oxygen to its roots,and can easily be burned by heavy fertilizer application.
Del

Here is "Pat's" pot of H. Giraffe this year. Last year there was some drama as the old pot was so full of roots, the drainage (or lack thereof) encouraged lots of rot. I pulled all the bulbs out, cleaned them up and soaked them in a fungicide/ They were repotted in fresh soil in a half whisky barrel (plastic) and babied through the summer. This year there are 9 or 10 scapes (some just peaking out), and I lost 1 (got mushy)....so still need to baby these. I'll post when more are in bloom. The first bloom is just starting to open!

Very pretty :-))))

Beautiful Kristi! -J

Kristi,

If you need any more Giraffe just let me know. I must have 50 blooms open now in different places around the yard.

Maida

One of my Giraffe bloomed with a pink background color. I selfed them to see what might happen. Another scape on the bulb was normal.

Wow, lucky you, that is just gorgeous!!!

I second that remark...how beautiful. Did I hear you say that it's growing outside or was I imagining that? If it is, that is one tough cookie :-)))

Yup...very pretty!
Mine was still unfurling last night. Am sure that it's looking better today (it was still sort of dark when I left for work, so no picture). Mine should all be much lighter than Ray's, as they were the picture in HoustonPat's message. We didn't have much of a winter this year, so the colors aren't as deep.

Fred....are you ready for more snow??

Oy...I'm sooo not ready for snow!!!! I trimmed my grapevine last weekend and it was 70 degrees. Did someone aggravate Mother Nature????

I forgot how pretty giraffe is. Mine flowered once then rotted before it even made roots. It's definitely on my replace list. I didn't see anyone offer it for sale this year. Maybe it will come back soon so I can try again. Thank you all for sharing your photos. They are beautiful.

The good fairy on the web site has plenty to offer. Just send me your e-mail at raymond_schuck@hotmail.com. I have four clumps with about 50 blooms right now.

Maida

Ray, that is so pretty! - J

Maida, please post pictures of that gorgeous blooming clump! I would love to see it! Such a pretty flower. Have you had luck crossing Giraffe with Papilio?

Coming along...

Turned into quite the looker! - J

Kristi it looks great!!

Very pretty!!

Some are pinker than others...

Hi Kristi,

Wow!!! Lucky you..they are beautiful. I really like how the papilio in her background gives her a very pretty species like look.

Fred