wooww...they is beautiful!! and the hippeastrum in the background, is that H. Supreme Garden of H. Johhsonii?
I like The Jade Serpent!

Yes Dablo, the one in the background is Supreme Garden and Amalfi in the bottom. Cupido (another South African miniature)was a day or two late when that picture was taken.

you have beautiful hippeastrums, Jade Serpent and Supreme Garden are on my Wanted HIppeastrum LIst...
I hope that I have the Plants over a few years:D
and what is the colour of H. Cupido?
and how much Hippeastrums do you have[or are that to much questions?]

DaeN

Lol Dablo! You're sounding just like my five year old daughter...there's never enough questions to be asked. But that is good. The road to education is guided by inquiring minds.

Supreme Garden is a Dutch hybrid, you should be having them available there in your place hopefully soon. Jade Serpent on the other hand is a South African hybrid. I have no idea if they are or when they will be available there. Cupido, another South African hybrid, has 2 1/2 inch salmon pink flower with green throat, has white star center and dark pink markings/veins on the petals. I will post a picture of it just for you.

I have 50 plus mature amaryllis bulbs right now and some 200 plus seedlings growing. It is alright to want more varieties Dablo but I have a very important advice for you. If you are building up your collection of amaryllises, maintain ONLY the right number of plants that you can take very good care of. So far, looking at your pictures, you seem to be doing a great job with your plants. A collection of 10 healthy and blooming plants would stay with you for years than a collection of 100 sickly and unhealthy plants that would eventually die and go to the garbage.

I think you should be able to obtain 'Supreme Garden' very easily, dablo93, but it may have a different name there.

R.

Mariava, thnx for the answers, and Raydio[and mariava] I haven't see a supreme garden, allone one 1 dutch site , for 18 euros...
but I go search, because I want a Supreme GArden[ and Lovely Garden] , ByE!!
daen

They're expensive here too. $18 US. But you get a clump of bulbs. I had 25 in my "klister".

{{gwi:379955}}

Robert-are there many varieties that grow "klisters" like that? I am wondering about my unknown orange that is developing the nice cluster of bulbettes around it. Hopefully the one I sent you will do the same as it matures.

The classification is a new one in the Dutch registry, "Bloende Klisters" or Knight Garden hybrids, and presently there are only two releases in that class, that I know of: Supreme Garden and, as dablo93 mentioned, Lovely Garden--a nice red. It refers to a specific set of hybrids developed by Cathy Osselton.

I don't know what their heritage is, species-wise, but there are several others cultivars noted for good to prolific offsetting:

H.striatum var petiolatum (prolific), puniceum (can be prolific), x johnsonii (prolific), 'San Antonio Rose' (prolific), and hybrids 'Pink Floyd', 'Germa', 'Lemon-Lime', 'Yellow Goddess',and 'Tango' and others, I am certain, as with your orange one and Lora's Li'l Pinkie seedlings--babies making babies.

I have some bulbs that beging multiplying while still small before they're large enough to have flowered. Isn't that great?

Some of the different variations of striatum and puniceum are said to offset "normally" with 2-3 being produced per year. Both my papilios gave me 3 over the last season.

If one of the prolific offsetters is bred into a hybrid line, the tendency may be passed along.

It seems that if a cultivar is a sterile triploid, they sometimes make up for it with good offsetting.

R.

Thanks Robert-I appreciate your help. i do have some other 'babies making babies' too. They are just 2 year old seedlings of Red Lion and Minerva. Each time I do a plant count in their mixed planter, I find another new one!

Maria-sorry for railroadling your post ;c) Jade Serpent is a really stunning plant. Your photos are awesome!

Hi Maria,
I am enjoying Jade Serpent in a big way :)
It seems all of the SA sonatini are a boquet-in-a-bulb !
Hey Robert & Cindeea,
Some of the large flowered hybrids will make clusters though I don't think they qualify as klisters. I'll put up a post with a 4 year old that I am happy with. Lora

woow, thats's a big beautiful clump of bulbs.
my lemon lime begins with little baby bulbs, my La Baz haves 4 or 5 little baby bulbs and my Papilio haves 1 Little Baby bulb:):0

Is Jade Serpent a diploid or tetraploid? I say it's "in between" or "both". I have now 5 (very tiny)seedlings of PapilioXJade Serpent and a bunch of Supreme GardenXJade Serpent seedlings. Papilio is a diploid and Supreme garden is (IMHO and experience) a tetraploid. I have pollinated so many SG flowers and most if not all that succeeded was using pollens from tetraploids. I did get 60 SGXLemon Lime seeds though. I still need to plant them to see if they are viable.

Elizabeth...How did your pollination using Jade Serpent pollens go?

Lora...Honey, aren't you going to join us here yet? I terribly miss ya!

Hiya Maria!
I'm trying to get back, honest!
I miss ya'll too, I'll try to get computer time this evening and catch up a bit :) Lora

OMG! Lora is back!!! Yaaaaaayyyyyy!!! We'll be waiting for you Lora.

Where do you guys get Jade Serpent? How come I don't see it offered anywhere ever?

Hiya Maria,
I've not figured out the ploidy for Jade Serpent or Cupido. Neither set seed with 2n or 4n pollen this winter but I will try again this fall. Cupido popped up a number of surprize scapes in July and none of those would set a pod either.
On the other hand, Cupido set a ton of seed on Pink Floyd (Pink Floyd X Cupido). Pink Floyd took Jade Serpent pollen in a huge way too. Exotica set some seed with Jade serpent but not many. And Baby Doll reeealy has me scratching my head ! Santa Cruz,Exotica,my super dark Charisma seedling and puniceum all set seed with Baby Doll pollen & Baby Doll set seed with pollen from the super dark Charisma seedling. Maybe it's 4n?
I hope the flower power of the SA's come through in the seedlings, I have been quite impressed with those I've grown.
So what crosses did you make?
Hiya Soultan,
Jade Serpent was not offered in the US. I imported a big batch,still have a few if you are interested :) Lora

Hot, hot, hot!!! It's almost 100F here. I just took a shower with the amaryllises and my kids...lol!

Lora...Crosses that I made with Jade Serpent pollen are:
PapilioXJade Serpent (sprouted)
Supreme GardenXJade serpent (sprouted)
Pink StarXJade Serpent (unplanted...hehehe)
San RemoXJade Serpent (unplanted)
Other crosses failed. Pollination of Jade Serpent flowers all failed for me if I remember right or that's what my seed list says anyway.

Cupido did not flower right for me. I did not dare pollinate the flowers but collected it's pollens. Pollination using Cupido pollens also failed for me.

Both of them are growing happily now. Hopefully they will give me LOTS of blooms next season.

Oh yeah, heat :( We finaly got some much needed rain,too little too late. I try to get my outside work done very early in the morning & rest in the afternoon. The evenings are for swimming with the boys :)
Did Cupido not root in well? If it's a bum bulb just let me know & another will be on the way. Mine are turning into klisters,12 or more offsets. They seem to like heat.
I bet that papilio cross will be awesome! The shape of the flowers works well together :)
I have seed sitting here too,planting them might be my late evening "mom time" break.
I still have San Antonio Rose set aside for you and my trade list is totally out of date. The majority of my bulbs, including my 3rd generation breeding stock,were wiped out. I'll get it updated soon but I'm very open for trades.

Lora...I did noticed that the SA varieties do love the heat and are out performing the other varieties right now and seem to not mind tha 90s temp. Cupido started slow during winter time but recovered when the weather warmed up. I just transferred it to a 6" pot yesterday and it had decent roots now with 3 babies.
PapilioXJade Serpent would be very interesting. I just hope I have the guts to grow them into blooming size.
Thanks for saving me a San Antonio Rose. Mwwwaaaa!!! I got a Supreme Garden saved for you too. I got a bunch of these and LOTS of seeds too. If I get lucky, I would be getting a Lovely Garden this coming season.

Maria, I am afraid you will not geg Lovely Garden this year. Royal Colors is not offering it. I guess, they have realized that they were selling Supreme Garden all along, so they corrected their mistake... But I hope I am wrong.

Lora, do you still remember my e-mail address. I have written a few e-mails to you in the past, before you kind of disappeared... If you are serious about Jade Serpent, I wouldn't mind talking about it privately wit you. Thanks.

Soultan...Let's wait and see. (wink!)

Hey Soultan,
I've sent 2 emails, 1 from each of my accounts :)
We were computerless there for awhile due to a very concentrated virus/hack attempt.It may have been interfering with email. Lora

Lora...When you imported that big batch of amaryllis bulbs, how did you store them? Or did you have to plant them all ASAP?

As I was going through my seedlings the other day, I was surprised that I had 1 Pink StarXCupido. So Cupido pollens got to set seed on Pink Star but only 1 germinated.

Hi Maria,
I store them in the root celler on bread racks suspended from the ceiling :O I might have 400-500 bulbs down there during the winter. I check them every few days to see what is showing a nose and needs planted.
I don't think the SA kind like that type of storage very much. I think they do better potted right away with the bloom time regulated the way florists do.There is a page at the Hadeco site that explains the temperatures & holding times. I'll see if I can find it in a bit.
Pink Star X Cupido only gave 1 ? I bet that will be one awesome flower! It sounds like you got one of those 1 in a million crosses :) Lora

Here is the tech page from Hadeco if you hadn't found it already.
If you hold the bulb in dry storage for a few weeks before it's potted then keep it cool for 10 days at stage 2 you can stagger the bloom times by about a month.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hadeco

Lora...Thanks for that link. I was just pondering about uplifting/unpotting my amaryllises and store them this winter. The collection has grown so much (80 plus mature bulbs) and they definitely will not fit in my refrigerator...lol! I don't have a root cellar. My unheated garage would sometimes go down below 40F during colder days and above 55F during warmer days. If I want all of them to rest in October, how am I going to store them? Time to buy a wine cooler just like Soultan? How much bulbs can fit in a wine cooler anyway Soultan?
Yes Pink StarXCupido is special. I have some other interesting crosses that I am "babying" right now. It just seems they are taking forever to grow specially when I check on them at least 2 times a day. It's not that hard when you had a lot that germinated and they all look happy in the community container. But if only one germinated, it seems to be very special.
Finally, one of the PapilioXJade serpent seedlings has grown it's second leaf (sighhhhh). Supreme GardenXJade Serpent seedlings are growing their 3rd or 4th leaf.

Lora,
You've got mail.

Maria,
I hope you will get what you are wishing for.
But don't buy a wine cooler. I had really bad experiences with it. I just bought a 245 dollars big standing refridgerator that has the freezer separated on the top. I use the freezer for meats and all kinds of stuff, and my 200+ bulbs are in the refridgerator part and they sleep happily. You don't need an expensive wine cooler that freezes your bulbs down. A nice refridgerator will do it. I put the bubls directly on the racks or put cardboard boxes (that I cut a lot of holes on) on the racks and store the bulbs in them. So far so good. I am enjoying the result now. The sleeping bulbs are blooming for me now... The next one should be Aphrodite. Finally. I was trying to get this variety for two years and all the bulbs turned out something else... I hope this one will be Aphrodite finally. It sure looks like.

Soultan...Thanks for those tips. I was in Sears today and saw a refrigerator without a freezer. I thought that was exactly what I needed except for the price. It was tagged like almost $400 and right beside it is a $200 plus refrigerator WITH a freezer. Go figure!!!

I hope you will get what you are hoping for...beautiful Aphrodite!!!

I got the beautiful Aphrodite finally. WOW. Huge flower... Too bad that the second scape is shivelling...
You can buy a refridgerator with a freezer, as long as the freezer is outside, not inside of the refridgerator part... If they are separated, everything is fine. I went to the Contractors' Warehouse and bought a fridge that had some surface defect. I mean it is in the garage anyway, so I don't mind if it has some scratches... It is the function that is important for me. It is about 4-5 feet tall. Good extra freezer for food and great sleeping place for amaryllis bulbs.

Hi. I'm brand new to message boards, but was trying to track down a Jade Serpent & this entry came up. I just received an emai.l from Charles Hadeco with a short list of US vendors of their bulbs: www.johnscheepers.com, www.vandycks.com, www.dutchbulbs.com (van bourgondien), www. parkbulbs.com & www. harry&david.com. I've checked out all their offerings & am disappointed--no Jade Serpents & not much new & exciting. I bought a Jade Serpent off ebay--planted it, was waiting for it to bloom & my fiance needed an amaryllis for a gift & took it for a customer. You might check ebay for them. I'm trying to get 2 new ones (Molto Bello & Lemon Butterfly) from a UK seller & we are keeping our fingers crossed that the post offices will deliver it since this is the 2nd attempt.

Amaryllislover, sorry to hear about your Jade Serpent. I would like to share with you though that "Lemon Butterfly" (UK) is the exact same thing as "Evergreen" (U.S). It's a risky thing to have plants sent to the U.S without proper documentation so just incase you don't have better luck this time, Evergreen aka Lemon Butterfly should be available by Wayside next season. Good luck and welcome to the forum! =)

Hi, I'm new to this forum and to amaryllis. I've bought a few this year, and totally fell in love. I do have a question though. You mention putting the bulbs in a refrigirator. A friend of mine did that, and they all died. Do you have any idea as to why? I plan to put mine in my basement this year, it's pretty cool down there in the winter as I live in Ohio. I have a peach colored one that does not want to grow and rotted to the point where I'm down to a bulb that's about a half inch, and that doesn't look very healthy either. Your jade serpant is beautiful, hope I can get one this year.

Welcome to both of you, amaryllislover and Rosalie! Glad to have you both aboard! It's unfortunate that this is not the best time of year to purchase hippeastrum bulbs... most commercial growers begin harvesting fresh bulbs in August, and shortly after that, they start becoming available for purchase through retailers. Fall is the best time to buy these bulbs as they are fresh and ready to bloom! Notice when your local retailers begin putting up the Christmas displays... that's about the time the real bulb purchasing begins!

Rosalie - before putting hippeastrum bulbs to rest at the end of the growth season, there is a certain amount of prep that's required, certain temperatures that are best, and a length of time that's appropriate for a nap.

How did your friend refrigerate the bulbs? At what temperature constant was the refrigerator? How long were they left in, and what was the growth cycle like before they were put to rest? There are a lot of variables involved, and without knowing exactly what happened to the bulbs prior to and during the refrigeration, it's impossible to say what went wrong.

I believe ideal cool temperatures for resting bulbs is somewhere around 50-60 degrees F. If you're storing bulbs in a fridge for their rest, you would want to wrap them in something so they're not touching the sides of the appliance interior, where they could either rot from moisture or from touching an exceptionally cold spot. You'd want to dedicate an entire drawer or shelf to your bulbs, with no fruit being stored in the same area, especially apples. You'd want to make sure the temp was constant, using a thermometer. And, you'd want to remove them after the proper length of rest.

If you do a search in this forum for information on dormancy and forcing, you'll find lots of really great reading on the subjects!

Hi Jodik. She said she put them in the fridge as soon as she got them from the grower and left them in there for 5 weeks, with no preparations at all. The grower didn't give her any other info than that and they all rotted. She put them in the veggie bin. I have been kind of in this forum without joining, so I did get a lot of info. I clean mine up and soak the roots in warm water for a couple of hours and plant. The resources for my bulbs all tell me that they are ready to be planted when I receive them, and so far the only one out of the twenty or so that looks like its not going to make it is my Solomon, which was supposed to be orange soverign. For some reason it started rotting as soon as the flowers died. I cleaned it up really well, but I don't think it's going to make it. I will tell my friend to do the research, and to pop in on this forum. I learned lots by popping in once in a while. Thanks all of you for your knowledge and help.

I buy my bulbs and stock them in the fridge. I have bulbs there sitting since October and they are not rotting whatsoever... I'd imagine that humidity might have gotten to her bulbs or maybe they were stored in plastic bags? My bulbs are dry and firm. None of them are rotting.

Rosalie - might I suggest trying to save your Solomon bulb by removing any rotting areas and dusting it with Captan? I've saved a few of my bulbs from certain doom by doing a bit of surgery to remove rotting areas, being careful not to damage the basal plate. I dust with Captan, an anti-fungal, and set the bulb aside for a few days to "heal". Then, I pot it again, using rooting hormone powder to help it along. I bottom water to keep the moisture at root level, and allow the soil to dry a bit in between waterings.

I am very mindful of the type of medium I use... it must be well-draining. There is some very good soil information on the Container Gardening Forum. I have been experimenting with different mediums for a while, and I have found that a Bonsai type of mix works very well for bulbs that will remain in containers most of their lives. It's more free-draining than regular soil, and stays more aerated which helps the roots breathe. It contains larger particles, which keeps the medium from compacting and suffocating the roots.

It's unfortunate, but some varieties of hybrid hippeastrums seem to be prone to rot and fungus. Taking care to keep excess moisture at a minimum seems to help.

When refrigerating bulbs, they should be dry and packed in something that will keep them from touching the sides of the crisper drawers. The packing should also be something that will not allow condensation to build up and remain, such as paper products. I would most likely wrap them individually in newspaper and group them in shoe boxes before storing. And I would check on them periodically, and check the temperature to make sure it remained constant and within the required range.

I still consider myself a novice, but I am determined to grow healthy bulbs that will repeat their flowering every year! In the course of adding to my collection, I ran into several cultural issues that required research. I had to change how I watered, the medium I used... and this year, I'll be putting several of my bulbs through dormancy, which I've never done before.

There is so much great information here... I have no doubt that I'll succeed in keeping my bulbs healthy and blooming!

My friend and I belong to a garden club which is slowly turning into an Amaryllis club. Last year I donated a few of the Kmart bulbs to our local nursing home. The ladies just loved them. I asked them to return them to me, so I have quite a few whites, reds and pinks. They are all still in pots and I can't wait to put them outside. They are taking over my house!!! I understand that I should leave them outside until the beginning of August and then dry them off in the basement. Do I have to put them in the fridge before I start them again? That kind of confuses me a bit. I'll see Jane monday at the meeting and I'll ask her exactly what she did when she put them in the fridge, so we'll know why they all rotted. Thanks for the info on Solomon, I'll try to save it by following your instructions. Thanks.

Rosalie - refrigeration is not really necessary... Soultan does it so he can store his bulbs and enjoy them at his leisure. He lives in a very warm climate.

You could put your bulbs, still potted, in your cool, dark basement at the end of the growing season, approximately 16 weeks before you want blooms again. Count backwards from Christmas for the exact week. Tip the pots on their sides so you don't forget to NOT water them, and leave them for about 8 weeks. Then, bring them back into a warm, bright room and begin watering again. Within 6-8 weeks, they should begin blooming.

There are different methods for storing bulbs during their dormancy... some folks will un-pot them and store them, while others will leave them potted and just keep the pots in a cool, dark basement or frost-free garage. It's sometimes recommended that they remain potted as this does not disturb the root system. The key is 6-8 weeks of cool, dark rest at around 50 to 60 degrees F.

Search the words "dormancy" or "forcing" here in the forum, and you'll get more specific information.

These bulbs can also be treated as houseplants and allowed to grow year 'round on their own schedule. In this case, they will bloom in spring. And sometime during fall or winter, they will put themselves through a short rest period, dropping all their leaves. At this point, slow down on the watering, but don't stop entirely. Winter is usually a time of less water usage for most plants, anyway.

I have a rather old Minerva bulb that has never been through a forced dormancy. She has been in a southern or eastern window her entire life, and every winter, she drops every leaf to rest. Then, right around the beginning of February, she bursts into bloom for me! In 8 years, she's only taken 2 years off of blooming. One year, I re-potted her and disturbed her... and the other year, I believe she needed some extra rest. The bulb, itself, is quite huge and has an offset. This year, I'll re-pot her again into a larger pot... and next spring, she should be loaded with flowers!

Hope this clears up the dormancy issue somewhat... there's more info for the taking with a search.

Jade Serpent is outstanding! If anyone, EVER, finds a place that's selling it, PLEASE let me know. This one is definitely on the top of my "want" list. Just love how the petals have that slight twist to them. Thanks!

Thanks again. I'm really learning a lot from this forum, and you especially. I'm hoping they all survive so I can take them back to the nursing home. Hopefully I'll be able to take more colors. As long as I get them back, I love sharing them with the older ladies and gents.

And I'm sure they appreciate your efforts, Rosalie! Flowers are always a welcome sight! How wonderfully generous of you to share them with these folks!

The key to maintaining good bulb health is proper watering and excellent drainage... and making sure to feed the bulbs while in growth mode. If you do all this, you should have healthy bulbs that will bloom year after year after year...

I'm only too happy to help... I know I gobbled up as much information as I could when I began collecting, and I'm glad to enable others! It's a fabulous hobby, rich with reward!

I miss the talk about ploidy...

It seems to be a controversial issue, and currently we are sort of lost in the discussions.

Maybe, there are exceptions and maybe not! Too many of us are trying to understand with so little scientific background.

Right now, I have a treasured gift from a dear friend, Baby Doll that is opening its first of two scapes, and I am frustrated because my season is ending and I hope to produce a few good seed pods from my precious gift.

Thanks to Lora, I can guess that Baby Doll is Tet, but I sure wish that others would try hard to determine ploidy.

If you only have one bulb, and it is new to you, it is mighty discouraging to GUESS, only to fail.

Please, I beg of all of you to help us learn the true ploidy of our hippeastrums. Don't mix and take chances that something wll work... Document your crosses carefully, and report what works and what doesn't!

Thanks, Lora! I have learned a LOT from YOU!

I have learned a lot from everyone here! I began last fall with 2 bulbs and very little in the way of cultural and breeding knowledge... and now I have over fifty named bulbs and a head full of information on how to properly keep and care for and breed these beauties!

My careful recording of everything I did went terribly awry last fall and over winter, and the paperwork got away from me... but I am now better equipped to keep records on everything from ploidy to crosses made and everything in between.

I, too, wish there were more discussions on the ploidy issue... I understand ploidy, but I'm still a little fuzzy on which bulbs are which! There doesn't seem to be a lot of recorded information available on hippeastrum ploidy... it's a very good topic for discussion, Elizabeth! I'm glad you brought it up!

Interesting. It's probably just the difference in photo color but:

Your "Jade Serpent" looks almost identical to my "Lemon Limes". I thought the Jade Serpent had more of a neon lime green hue. Royal Colors is selling Jade Serpents this year. If you go to their website under the African Amaryllis you'll see what I mean about the neon glow, but maybe their pictures are over exposed or something. I would love to have that neon lime glow.

My Supreme Garden that I received from Royal Colors last year was a blooming freak. Scapes and flowers all over the place (I lost count at 30+ flowers). Mine was much more of a vibrant orange/red compared to your picture which appears to be more of a straight lilly orange.

Over time, you'll find that many variables account for flower color... amount of light, fertilizer, basic climate, etc... there are too many to tell exactly which one is responsible. This is a subject that we've discussed before, and it keeps amazing us all!

I hope this would help you Claus in your search for the "neon lime glow" flower.

Jade Serpent's flower December 2007...

{{gwi:379956}}

Or maybe this one, from it's second scape in Februeary 2008.

{{gwi:379957}}

If anyone is still looking for Jade Serpent, Edens Blooms is selling it for $7.99 now. FYI.

It's $6.99 each if you buy three bulbs so buy with friends if possible. =) Thank you Maria for the inspiration! :o)

P.S. -- I emailed you back. =)