Crazy color differences-- here's my Brendan's Flower--
{{gwi:379809}}

Dan, it's lovely to see some more of Maguire's hippies, I've been so inspired by the feedback about them on here. Great photos! Top Cat looks like a bit of a cheeky double, love the green throat. And very interesting with the colour differences on Brendan's Flower between yours and Ryan's. Shirley May looks very delicate and elegant. All very nice indeed.

Actually it's really good timing for me as I've been inspired to put an order in at Maguires, and Party Pooper and Brendan's Flower are at the top of my list. Nellie from Maguires has been incredibly helpful, and advised me that the website will have some new hippies added in March so I'm torn between ordering now so I've the best chance of getting the ones on my list or waiting for whatever new treasures they offer before I make my final decision...

Or there's option three: put two orders in... LOL!

Hey Ryan - that's true. Perhaps my Brendan's Flower does look a little washed out in my photo but it certainly wasn't as vibrant as yours. Interesting.

Nice ones, Maguires really has some stunning varieties especially his dotted ones that are elsewhere quite rare. I like the Donna Maree a lot. Thanks for sharing!

Temps have a lot of bearing on how vivid or washed the color will be in a hippeastrum flower. When my Brendan's Flower bloomed, it bloomed in the summer (here in Colorado) with temps in the 70's (F) and lows in the 50's and even 40's (F). I'm gonna take a guess and say because of my warm day and rather chilly night temps, my flower managed some vivid color.

Dan, Wow!! Those Maguire's are gorgeous!! Brendon's Flower has always been a favorite since Ryan posted his pictures, and Party Pooper and Top Cat as well as my namesake are all beautiful. My only regret is that I hadn't found this forum in time to have taken part in the Maguires order some time back!!! If we are ever lucky enough to have that chance again....................these guys will be on my list!! Thanks for sharing them!

Donna

For those interested, I will likely do the Maguire's Co-op again come late March. Keep an eye out on GW then for more information.

Phoenix Ryan

Denver Ryan here... not to be confused with mr phoenix!

Phoenix Ryan, for those not familiar with him, did a coop last year that included quite a few folks here on the forum. He did an AMAZING job of coordinating and collecting the funds and keeping us in the loop. And then he was very fast at turning those bulbs around and getting them to us once they go to the States.

I'm sure I'm not the only one to say this-- but he did such a great job.

Ryan count me in!!!

Ryan, Denver

I'd love to participate if there is any chance of getting the one bulb I want deeply to Germany.

betonklotz, I sent you an email.

Phoenix Ryan

Dancacti...I have some questions about Maguires' policies about their bulbs. Does Maguire guarantee Australians of their shipped bulbs blooming for sure once the customer plants them? Or do they really send out immature bulbs that do not bloom?

A very high percentage of the bulbs sent by Maguires here in USA did not perform or flower at all. Which has caused some disappointments as we are spoiled here in USA of receiving bulbs that are "guaranteed to bloom". A lot of the sent bulbs were really small, slept for a long time (several months) and eventually just leafed out some. No flower. Are most of Maguire bulbs really like these?

I'm interested in knowing the percentage of bulbs that did not bloom from Maguire's.

I was one of the lucky I guess-- 100% bloomed.

Ryan

PhoenixRyan, Wow!! You can count me in for at least 10 varieties, maybe more!! Thanks, I can hardly wait!!
Donna

I got 8 Maguires bulbs at the end of last year and 7 flowered. The only one that didn't flower was 'Jaffa' which I've had problems with in the past (I forgot I already had one so ordered another!)
That being said, I am not aware that Maguires guarantees blooming - it certainly doesn't say so on their website.

I think that perhaps the reason why a lot of the transported bulbs didn't flower was because as Ryan said the seasons are different and perhaps the bulbs didn't like the transport process very much.

As for the size of the bulb, generally the ones I have received are about 2inches in diameter, sometimes smaller, but I figure the size of the bulb has more to do with genetics than actually being given an immature bulb.

Dan

I experimented with my bulbs that I got from the coop last year since I had a suspicion that they were tired from growing for a full Australian summer. I planted a few and the rest I stored in my cool-ish garage. The ones I planted, as suspected snoozed even though it was summer in Raleigh and the sunshine was full. The ones I let have a cool-ish rest bloomed, including the one that was golf-ball sized. (That one turns out to be just a small bulb - like the Sonatinis I got this season.)

I think understanding where the bulbs were in their growth cycle and trying to anticipate their needs was very helpful in getting them to bloom - so just a heads up for folks in the US getting bulbs from Australia in the future! (Just like Jodi says, you gotta listen to the bulbs ;-)

Alana

I thought PhoenixRyan did an excellent job with the Maguire's order. We knew it wouldn't be the "ideal" time for them to harvest them. Just 1 of the 3 I ordered bloomed but I wasn't surprised considering all. It seems the S. African bulbs need some time to rebound after they arrive too.

The bulbs I received were not small, they are blooming size.
As long as we know what to expect we shouldn't be disappointed. I for one would participate in another order.
Sally

Well back to the spirit of this post...

Dan here is Stanwick-- who I thought wouldn't be so pink!!!! But I really ended up enjoying this bulb despite the color, which grew on me.
{{gwi:379810}}

Here is Boysenberry Swirl-- I wish it had more swirl...maybe next year!
{{gwi:379811}}

This is my Party Pooper-- again, quite different from yours in coloring and pattern-- but still, both are amazing!
{{gwi:379812}}

And finally my Russian Halo-- the picotee was slight, but its there... but I LOVE the shape of this flower.
{{gwi:379813}}

Ryan

Before posting any additional threads about a new order for Maguire's this spring, I'll ask each of the participants from last year's order to post their observations and results.

That way, anyone who might wish to participate this year, will be able to make an informed and educated decision about the varieties and care necessary.

Phoenix Ryan

Love ALL the pictures!!! Could the difference between Dan's and Ryan's "Brendon's Flower" be the fact the Dan's was taken in front of a window and is receiving back- light and Ryan's seems to be taken with a flash (I think) against a dark background? Whenever I take a picture with a bright day-lighted window behind.....it sort of shines through the flower and makes it appear lighter in color.....and I find a flash makes the pictures have deeper color. Just a thought.............still looking forward to a group order,

Donna

Here's the first scape for Chanberg:
{{gwi:379814}}From garden web 2

and my favorite Strawberry Swirl - yum! {{gwi:379815}}From garden web 2

And here's Natalie in the morning sun: {{gwi:379816}}From garden web 2

I see I was in a "pink" mood when I picked out these bulbs! And I don't want to jinx myself, but I think I see a scape coming up on Bronze Pride. From what I can tell, there's no picture of that one anywhere - so I'm looking forward to having a first!

Alana

Hey Dan! Thanks for your reply and sharing your experience. I just wanted to be sure that this is really the size of the bulbs sent by Maguires inside and outside Australia.

Everytime I visit the Taiwanese site where they posted pictures of their Maguire bulbs blooming, it makes me wonder on what went wrong to the USA sent bulbs as most of them did not perform like this at all.

{{gwi:379817}}

Same varieties that we received, same hemisphere as we have, same weather, same care...They flourished and bloomed beautifully in Taiwan. Now what are we missing here in USA??? I strongly believe that it is not "just" the change of hemisphere as you can see in the Taiwanese website. We are at the same hemisphere as Taiwan. Nor is it the lack of "cool period" as the Taiwanese also received and planted their bulbs at the same season as we did.

Now before I get misunderstood and sombody jumps on me again. I am NOT accusing or attacking anybody. I am looking for the "missing factor" why the Maguires bulbs did not perform good here in USA. Perhaps if that is figured out, necessary actions can be taken that could prevent this happening in the next Maguire shipments. That's all...period!!!

Bulbs recieved: 40
Bulbs that bloomed: 8
Performance: 20%
Opinion: very disappointed

Now should we be satisfied of such performance or should we aim for better performing bulbs IF we can figure out how?

Donna-- it very well could be that. I always take my photos against a darker background (unless the flower is already a dark color) using the Rembrandt method.

Never fails to produce excellent shots!!!! Also, I use a remote shutter release and a tripod, as I use high f-stop (to get more of the flower into crisp focus) and therefore a long shutter speed.

As for the color, I'm still convinced its the temps, too. I dont' know what Dan's temps were at the time of blooming, but when I have cool-cold night and warm days, the flowers always seem to be so much more colorful.

Also... Boysenberry Swirl is a very small bulb for me. Maybe half the size of a baseball, if that helps visualizing. Very much the size of a Hadeco bulb.
{{gwi:379818}}
Here she is pushing buds about a month after receiving her from the Land Down Under.

Denver Ryan

PhoenixRyan-
Maybe we can wait 'til they put up the new ones in March as Clancy mentioned? I just went to their site and see some from last year are gone.

By the way- everyone's pics are really great! Thanks for the photo-tip RockyRyan!

Maria, maybe they chilled the bulbs in Taiwan before they planted them? I see that they're planted in the ground too - I'll bet that keeps them cooler than in the pots like we do. Our southern summers probably just were too much for them right after the finished a summer of their own.

That's a beautiful picture, btw! Do you know what variety it is? I think I need it!

Alana

Dan wrote: "I got 8 Maguires bulbs at the end of last year and 7 flowered. The only one that didn't flower was 'Jaffa' which I've had problems with in the past (I forgot I already had one so ordered another!)
That being said, I am not aware that Maguires guarantees blooming - it certainly doesn't say so on their website."

But yes, it says so on their website (About Us): "All our Hippeastrums usually send up two stalks (sometimes one and sometimes three) each stalk carrying four or more flower heads."

Hi again everyone, I think the Taiwanese website is what I had been referring to in several past posts as the Chinese website, my mistake!! But don't they have gorgeous pictures !!!! Almost makes you drool!!
That's the site I'm going to make my Mcguire's wish list from,......those of you who haven't looked really ought to check it out!!

Donna

Here is a link that might be useful: Taiwanese/Chinese website

Sorry guys, that didn't work, maybe someone else can post it again and if I remember correctly you have to start on about page 65+- to start seeing the pictures. Donna

I got, I think, 14 bulbs. Everyone of them bloomed and was gorgeous! Maria,I can not say why the Ones in Taiwan bloomed so beautifully for them, but I wonder if perhaps the difference between your weather and mine was why mine did so well and yours didn't. My climate is so much cooler, I think they just considered it was fall for them instead of spring, and went ahead and bloomed in (I think) October. It took them a long time to root, so once they were rooted about August-Sept I started seeing them putting out leaves and scapes. Mine spent the summer outdoors on a table, seldom watered since I was so busy in my big gardens. Our summers are mostly dry after July 4, and though we had one short heatwave up to 106 degrees, the rest of the summer was mostly under 75 with many cloudy dry days.

Kaitlin{{gwi:372397}},
{{gwi:379819}} Naomi,{{gwi:379820}} whispering Wind,{{gwi:379821}}Lemon SPlendor,{{gwi:379822}}, Boysenberry Swirl,Emerald Star,{{gwi:379823}}, Brendan's Flower,{{gwi:379824}}, Elaine grace, Emerald Star {{gwi:379825}} Emerald Star
{{gwi:379826}} Forest Fire,{{gwi:379827}} My Party Pooper...last to bloom so truly a Party Pooper, another view of Forest Fire, showing the flames, {{gwi:379828}},{{gwi:379829}} Anita,

The only one I don't seem to have a pic of is Frank Maguire but it was also very nice. Sorry my pics and labels did not match up better but I have spent an hour on them and that is enough!

I would love to order more of these beautiful things! Not as many as last time, but enough to keep the surprises coming...each one was better then I anticipated it would be!

I received 7 bulbs from McGuire's. 2 bloomed and the other five grew leaves. All took considerable time to develop good roots. They were warm trough the summer and all are growing well. I didn't think they would all bloom. Bulb size small but mature size. They had not gone into a natural dormancy befog shipping. Probably something to do and a a cool rest period might have helped them bloom better. Good pinks but not a lot better than some we have here on my two, but very lovely plants. Vic

Dan!! Your pictures in your first post disappeared!! Can you put them back??

Dan, they were back and now they are gone again, it must be the gremlins on Garden Web!!

I think the website I am hosting them on is having some problems.

Should be fixed soon.

I missed out on last year's coop, but I surely would like to obtain a few this year, if you have the courage and stamina to go through all of that again.

Actually, the biggest problem that I have with Christmas amaryllis is giving them space inside to bloom the first year. After that, they stay outside as long as possible during the winter months.

I am trying to determine hardiness, but this winter was extremely harsh, with lows of 17 degrees. So, I am a chicken, what can I say?

Anyway, if you do the coop again, I am definitely interested.

Ann

Ann--

The Maguire's coop will happen this year-- and Phoenix Ryan knows of your interest so when the time comes, he'll post on this forum to gather people's info. Keep an eye out for it. BTW we usually do this in the Spring-- so my guess is the post will go up sometime in March.

Denver Ryan