Rimma,

Your Blossom Peacock is lovely, was it fragrant (?) they should be. You'll find that Blossom Peacock is very giving of offsets and in no time you'll have a whole pot full!

Seeing your beautiful Dancing Queen reminds me I must get another this year as I had a mishap with mine...

As for the seeds of your mother's heirloom sometimes it takes longer than a week even for fresh seeds. Give it another week or two and I'll bet you'll see results. It's a very sweet flower...and if that doesn't work try another batch of the seeds. There isn't any reason why it shouldn't have selfed successfully...

Donna

Donna, my Blossom Peacock was a little fragrant, but not a lot, like it would not fill the entire room with fragrance like freesias. If you put your nose in it - then yes, fragrant. So far no offsets, but I would love to see one soon.

So... I have a surprise from one of my 4 japanese bulbs. no roots yet. But:
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Below the leaf - a super small, but a real scape!!!

That's great!! It looks to be a small bulb, which variety is it? Can't wait to see it, we've seen far too few of these bloom! Keep us posted...

Rimma,
I love your heirloom bulb. This month, talking amaryllis with people, I heard lots of stories about bulbs that have been in families for generations.
K

Kristi, Donna I am so excited!
The bulb above is Trumpet Salmon which should be fragrant, too, but we'll see - hopefully before next summer, considering the speed of growth XD

Yey... One of my Komoriya's rooted!
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Then... The seeds finally sprouted - all of them and are already growing:
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And my Pixie-not, patiently waiting for the blooms:
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A little update.
Bought these 2 buddies from Royal colors. Very nice bulbs.
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They have been growing together.

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Tosca was the first to open its flowers. It doesn't smell. here is a photo in the daylight without flash:
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And with flash:
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Samba followed shortly and started to open up, too. It has a lovely light smell. It is also big and clumsy, it opens up a little funny :)
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Two very healthy looking bulbs yielded two beautiful pots of flowers!! I'm sure you're enjoying them! Sometimes Samba can open up a little cupped but still very beautiful!

Donna, you were absolutely right about Samba's cup-like shape. I think I'm in love again:
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And what a surprise! My red lion is sending out a scape. I sent it into a forced dormancy, into a cold, dark and dry place. I guess my experiment was successful :)
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Good job Rimma!
K

Rimma, Your Samba is striking!!

About 5 years ago I ordered one from White Flower Farms and they sent me two substituting one for something else I had ordered. I wasn't too happy that they choose something I had already ordered for a replacement so I gave one to my father. His bulb was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen! Prettier than mine and all the neighbors that saw it couldn't believe their eyes!! It certainly makes a statement doesn't it!!

Donna

Thanks, girls!
Donna, I wonder how that bulb performs now, is it still producing blooms?

Today this little sunshine was waiting for me on the windowsill on a gloomy morning:
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I will put in more pictures one of these days. Isn't it a beauty?

Rimma, Both my Samba and my fathers are still in the family. A very strong bulb! But now that I think about it I don't think that either has ever set an offset.

Lime Flair is beautiful!! I can't wait until mine blooms too! Also my Cutting Edge is coming along too..

Here is my father's Samba:

Rimma,

I wasn't too impressed when my Samba flowered a few years ago, but after seeing your beautiful bloom, I'm tempted to try again. Tosca is one of my favorites and one I always want to have one. You are so lucky to have heirloom bulbs - the stories and how they link to family and friends is priceless.
-J

There is another bulb named Prelude which is very similar to Samba. In fact I don't know if I could tell the two apart. I don't have one so I don't have any pictures but I'm sure you could find many on the internet; might be interesting to take a look...

Like I promised here is a couple more pictures of lime flair:

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And I was VERY pleased with Red Lion bought on clearance in a store last year for 2 dollars. It bloomed for over a week and the flowers were gigantic like a miniature-satellite dish :)

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Next week, I had flowers from my papilio butterfly! I've heard a lot of "horror sories" on how difficult this plant is and didn't even hope to see flowers. When cold nights started, I put it inside the house just not to freeze my precious bulb. I guess change of temperatures triggered it to bloom. The flowers, however, were not long-lasting like Red Lion's. I wonder why. I would say 3 days maximum.

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And then, my Love Triangle bloomed. But I am suspicious it is a mislabel :( It was nice but totally not what I wanted. Do you think it is a Moon Scene? I really wanted a Love Triangle because the colors were nice on the website. It looked like an Ambiance.
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And just for the record - my Pixie-not that is probably a Baby Doll.
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Your "Love Triangle" looks like my second Cutting Edge which was not a Cutting Edge. Yours at least has a slight picotee, mine is plain. I'm not really happy with this bulb regardless of what it is.

I have a "Moon Scene" blooming now and I think it is a Love Triangle (which I did not order) and the flower is small and I'm not particularly pleased with this one either. I'll post a picture when it has had a chance to open all the way.

It's getting confusing trying to figure out what these bulbs are and none of them in my opinion look anywhere as nice as what is on Saad Assaf's website.

At least the Lime Flairs seem true but I got an extra Lime Flair instead of a Cutting Edge, Are you confused yet?

If some of these mistakes were outstanding it wouldn't be so bad but I feel like I've wasted quite a bit of money this year on stuff I didn't want. Maybe I'm just getting fussy in my old age!

Your Red Lion is lovely nice to see something that is what it's supposed to be!

And, your papilio is lovely and now you've got some coveted pollen to make some exciting crosses!

Donna

This post was edited by dondeldux on Sun, Jan 5, 14 at 16:47

Rimma,
If you like H. Samba, take a look at H. Hurricane. I don't have a photo handy, but should be easy to find on line. Your H. Tosca looks great. Would you describe your blooms as large, small, or medium?
K

This post was edited by kaboehm on Sun, Jan 5, 14 at 19:43

Donna, that is so frustrating! To expect one thing and not to have it AND pay money for it! I still have a Cutting Edge that has not bloomed for me... If it turns out to be Cutting Edge or Love Triangle - I will be happy! I totally agree with you that it is confusing to figure out what you really have (is it really difficult to send just the right bulb???).... I still have a couple of bulbs from RC and if they are what they should be - I will stick to those guys in Holland. And yes, I have been already experimenting with papilio pollen, so excited about it!!! 3 more flowers opened up on a second scape, I will post a picture later.

Kristi, Hurricane is so beautiful! Reminds me of Novella which I was not successful with - it had a virus :( And Tosca was a little smaller than expected - definitely not a big size. I think it was a medium. Still nice and wanred for quite a while :)

Rimma,
I have been buying from RC for 7 years. In all that time I think I've only received 1 bulb that was not labeled correctly. Maybe I've been really lucky with them, but they are definitely my preferred source! Some other sellers have over 50% mislabeled bulbs.

When you're making crosses of your own it's it's extremely important to know the proper identification of what your working with. That's why it's so frustrating to get a bulb that you're not 100% sure of its identity. If I get a bulb that blooms and it's not what I expect...if I like it, and know for sure what it is, then I'm not as disappointed, but still request replacements.
K