How wonderful, Xaun! You'll have flowers for Christmas! Is that a tiny scape tip peeking out that I see?!

Yup, jodik, that's a scape. I hope to have blooms for Xmas. If the timing is right this year, I will do the same for next year and the year after and after.... Wow, it's so good to be able to control when you want to have the flowers. Many thanks to Maria and Sultan for the tips.

Xuan

... for I mispelled your name in my previous post. My apology.

Xuan

Yayyyyyy for Xuan!!! So we are not just talking about amaryllis stuff here for nothing. A woman in Vietnam just forced her first amaryllis!!! I'm so happy for you Xuan. Congratulations!

Chuc mừng Xuan! That is one healthy green happy looking bulb you have got there in Vietnam. Do you know what color/variety it is that you are expecting? =)

Xuan
Bravo, my friend. I am going to have to go look at the rich red bulb I put in the fridge last month. It's the one that was attacked by caterpillars. I am planning on planting it up after I recover from my surgery...

Cindee, what surgey? I hope it's not serious and that you will recover in no time, my dear friend. All my best wishes to you.

Thanks Maria. It should be acredited to your wisdom and experience. You are my #1 amaryllis teacher! Oh, by the way, Happy Teacher's Day (it's Teacher's Day in VN today, November the 20th.)

Xuan

Xuan
I have to have total hip replacement on both hips. We are starting with the right one on Dec. 5th. I have been waiting years for this. I have always been active, Aerobics, Jazz dance, racqeteball, taught scuba diving. For 30 years I have complained of back and leg pain. Finally they figured out why! I will be fine, m'dear. I can't wait to go bionic! To walk or stand without pain has only been a dream for me. Soon it will become reality!

Cindee, I wish you the best of health and happiness always. I checked out your photo album with your grandkids and I could see how young and healthy you looked, much much younger than I had pictured you in my mind. I hope one day you can come to Nha Trang, one of the most beautiful beaches in Vietnam, and go scuba diving there. I bet you will like it.
Meanwhile, take good care of yourself.

Xuan

Sweet Xuan-thank you so much for your good wishes! I would love to visit your country. I don't know if Dennis could handle it, though. After his Nam tour he came home very scarred. When we first got together he would have feverish dreams and the sound of a helicopter would send him over the edge. He is a very strong man, but war memories were difficult for him. I would cradle his 6'3" frame while he was struggling with nightmares and I would whisper that it was all right and he was safe. He was in a very speciallized field, working on the mechanics on turrets in certain tanks. Those tanks got deployed again after 9/11. He was one of 6 people (5 men and 1 woman) still alive in the US specially trained in maintaing the turrets. He instructed people on the maintenance. Luckily (I would have built a cellar to hide him!!) they had enough younger personnel to maintain them. Still, I think he would probably love to see a country he once visited when wracked by war and pain. And see it back to it's peaceful, beautiful existance.

I have to tell you, the grandbabies are AWESOME! So energetic and smart. We had a wonderful time with them. I think being so active in my younger years and being totally happy with myself and at peace in my soul, makes me look and feel younger than my 56 years. In my mind, I think I am 30. (Even though Soultan thinks I am boring-LOL!!!)

God bless Xuan, I will certainly let you know how things go for me. You can't keep a feisty, fun-loving, happy, energetic, crazy old Italian broad down! I hope you will share more about your country, photos and it's history. Maybe we will come get you to go to the beach one day!

Xuan...No, no, no...not just me please. Everybody in the forum and friends in SA and Holland has taught as all well.

Happy Teacher's Day too!

Xuan,

You see, you just had to try and succeeded. Great example for Jodi, who got down a little now that she met some obstacles... We will keep her spirits up. I am sure that seeing your success, she will dig herself into dirt and bulbs again. :o)

Totally agree with Maria that all members of the forum have shared their wisdom and experience in the field of amaryllis culture. But I would love to mention that it was Maria who brought up (or refreshed our minds on) the particular topic of forcing amaryllis for blooms back in August, especially for me who knew so little about this. Also, it was Maria and Soultan who answered so many of my (re-affirming) questions of what to do... blah, blah...!
So, sure, I'd like to say thank you to all of you on the forum for this!
I'm so happy that I can do it now, and every year from now on. Moreover I'm going to show my fellow Vietnamese how to do it too.
Cindee, I will email you some photos and links to web sites of Vietnam so that you can share them with Dennis and re-assure him that there's no more terrible things here. (whispering: I'm 56 too, but I don't have any grandchildren yet. Can I claim "young" too?)

Xuan

Soultan - it will take more than a few little obstacles to keep me from growing hippeastrums! I love them too much to give up on them! A little patience and a little more knowledge is all I need... and I'll get by with a little help from my friends!

Cindee - I think it's safe to say... we're all with you in spirit as you begin your journey back to pain-free mobility... We're all praying, each in our own way, for a safe and successful surgery, and your swift recovery...

Xuan - I'm excited to see the flowers on that bulb! Isn't it amazing how you can control when your bulbs flower? I just love bulbs, of all types, because they are like little rechargeable batteries that power beautiful blooms! Everything required for growth and flowering is contained right there, inside each bulb! And it is our care of the bulbs that keep them flowering year after year. I find that fascinating!

Maria has been a huge help, and an inspiration, to those of us just beginning to collect and work with hippeastrums! Her flowers are gorgeous, and when I see her collection and her trays of healthy seedlings, it inspires me to learn more so I can have a healthy collection and my own trays of seedlings from breeding my bulbs!

Everyone here has been helpful, and I'm inspired by everyone's enthusiasm and by the lovely photos posted!

It is good that we can reach for information on this forum and most of the time get a lot of opinions and suggestions how to reach our goals. I read into older posts too to look for specific things sometimes. It is good that these post are not getting deleted.

I agree soultan, I refer to older posts all of the time. Helps me to refresh my memory on certain techniques.

It is now outside, enjoying more sun... but still being shielded from direct sun ray. It has grown about 1 inch now. I'm watching for a second scape (hopefully) since the bulb looks so healthy and big.
Paxfleur, the bulb is just ordinary red color. I got it from a friend last Xmas, no tag attached so I don't know the name. What I'm so anxious about this bulb is my success in forcing it, following exactly the techniques shared by Maria and Soultan.
Me, too, I read old posts all the time.

Xuan

Well thank you guys for all those nice comments. As I said before, hopefully someday, this forum will lead to the revival of the American Amaryllis Society. If not, start a new one.

I have NEVER forced any of my Hippie bulbs this way (uprooted). I might though this season for I will be needing fresh pollens from some varieties.

Soultan...When you uproot your bulbs, what do you do with the babies? Do you cut their leaves too and store with mother bulb? Or do you detach them with leaves and roots and let them grow while mommy goes to the refrigerator?

If they stay with mommy, I cut their leaves and they go to the fridge. So far, if they broke down, I did the same, but this year, I am planning to keep them green. Especially if I can get my green house during this winter...