Beeeuuuutiiifullll!

Very nice. I especially like the shimmer.
Pam

I want one!!! Oh, Maria! It's gorgeous! I'm jotting it down on my wish list right now!

Jodi...put that dang wish list away or you will get all of us jumping on the order wagon again!

Very nice. My Top Choice, from JS, is also blooming now. Its a cheery addition to the kitchen counter.

Gorgeous color! =)

How beautiful! My Black Pearl had such a shimmer, the colour in real life was more of a dark burgundy wine:
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Ohhhh, thats very lovely Ana. Now I'm very glad I ordered this. I have 3 bulbs coming in week after Thanksgiving. How big is the flower?

Top Choice is somewhere similar to Rapido, Calimero, and Carina. Sometimes, It is hard to differentiate between them, but your pictures are wonderful, Maria.

Anna, I can never understand why they call so wonderfully colored blooms black... I guess, someone was really color blind naming this flower. It is everything but black. And I am glad it is.

Maria, without my wish list, I'd never remember all these lovely bulbs for ordering next year! My memory doesn't work like it used to, unfortunately!

Anna, what a lovely photo! The color is so deep and shimmery! Just beautiful!

I'm so bummed... both large orders I placed are lost in never-never land... and the one bulb I got from JS is showing signs that the rot surgery I performed on it did not work... it is still looking sick.

The only bulbs doing anything good are ones that I bought locally... and the babies I got from friends are all doing well, but too young to bloom yet.

I'm having a very disappointing start at collecting hippeastrums... I should put away my wish list and forget about collecting so many bulbs... It's just not working out.

Sadly, this bulb just shrivelled into a dreadfully small size - I could barely recognize it as a hipp bulb right now. But I still have it, and next summer it shall spend those months outdoors and see if that might fatten it up (I do also fertilize).

Mariava - as I recall the flower was not overly huge, but astonishingly gorgeous regarding its shimmer. If I were naming it, I'd have called it Burgundy Shimmer, or Bordeaux Silk. I give such names to my dahlias when I grow them from seed and have thus NOID.

Anna-I can just feel the satiny texture of that rich red. That is similar to the rich red bulb I got mis-named Black Beauty.

Jodi,

As I have said, don't be discouraged. It takes time. I am sure you will be able to fix the surgery-bulb. And also don't be discouraged if you don't get seeds now. As you know, ploidity takes into account. Maybe they are not compatible... I pollinate everything with everything and get seeds left and right, but oh my how many pods shrivel and die off... Way more than seeds I get... You are doing it for fun, so failing is option and it teaches you what to do next time to eliminate problems.

Jodi...It takes time to learn. I know you have been taking down notes right from the start but it's the hands'on experience that will teach you. Remember that the newly puchased bulbs WILL look sick (shrink)after what they have gone through and going through right now with all these blooms to support with very little roots. As Sir Hans said.."The bulb is exhausted". This is a very critical time for them. Most of them recover ONLY after blooming. The seedlings are doing good because they have enough roots to support their growth. Water the new bulbs very carefully making sure the soil is dry in between watering. No fertilizer, just drops of Superthrive. Provide warm temps (70s) with bottom heating a great advantage. You might need a fungicide for Amalfi if the cinnamon did not work. Captan is good with wounds. pray that they would grow leaves, a good sign that they are starting to recover and rooting below. Once this happen, they will need light to produce food.

Soultan is right. There will be more failures than success in pollination specially of new bulbs. Sometimes they reject or abort the seedpods because they just don't have enough energy for it and would rather spend their limited food to root and leaf out...a survival thing I guess.

Heads up my friend. Everything will be alright. We will be here for you... :-)

I have started out with like 3 bulbs for three years before I got too close to them and I probably caught a virus from them and since then I have this infamous CHAD. Probably I got into them so much because I was not able to kill my first few bulbs for years, even though I mishandled them greatly... You are starting out with a lot of bulbs, and thus, have a greater chance for some of them to fail or show some nasty things for you... You know. Bigger numbers, larger chance... I hope though that you will not be discouraged and will get your spirits up again.

Thank you, Maria and Soultan... I'm not really discouraged so much... just a little disappointed... I know there will be failures... that's a natural part of breeding. It happens even with dog breeding... you breed two awesome dogs that should produce a great litter, and the pups turn out to be junk with health problems or poor temperaments... it happens... Larry says, "We can manipulate genetics to a certain extent, but we will never control them."

I'm disappointed that 2 orders have not arrived, and are presumed lost... and the one bulb I ordered and actually got is rotting away... every bulb I have blooming or growing I either got locally, or got from a dear friend...

I see that a few of the flowers I bred have slight swelling where a seed pod would develop, and a few look like they might abort. I still have a few more blooms to breed... and there are more bulbs getting ready to open... so, even more to breed! I will be happy with my bulbs no matter what happens, and if I do happen to get a seed pod, that would be great!

I really appreciate the words of encouragement... don't worry, I'm not going to let a few bad things spoil what I know will eventually turn out fine! I just need a little experience,as Maria said! :-)

Jodi,

You have ordered from Royal Colors, just as Maria did and I did. Do you think that all the three packages are lost? It can take 20 days from Royal Colors to the packages to arrive. So we are still within time. I start to worry after the 20th day. So headS up.

I just inquired about that order. RC said that it will arrive as the US customs takes forever to release them. I hope they hurry up before our bulbs get frozen or something.

Yes. I remember that it took about 20 days last time to finally get my package. I am still hopeful. They sent it at the beginning of November sometimes, so we still have a few days to sit and wait.

According to the email Royal Colors sent me, they shipped my order on October 26th... the website says it takes 10-15 business days for packages to arrive... it has been longer than that, and I'm getting worried... I emailed them on Thursday and asked them to look into it... their response was that I should check with my local Post Office and see if they have the package... I find that response to be very patronizing and condescending... I have been checking with my local Post Office every day for the past two weeks, at least! Besides, the Post Office delivers mail to my door five days a week, and there has been no package from Royal Colors yet!

Anyway... I emailed RC again and asked for a tracking number so I could locate the package, myself... we'll see how they respond to that request... I must say, though, that I am not happy with their cavalier attitude regarding the mail... every company I have ever ordered an expensive item from has sent me a tracking number when they ship my package so I can track it, myself. This is the first time I have received notice of shipment from a company without a tracking number... that, in itself, is worrysome...

I just hope you are right, Soultan... and that it's just taking a long time to get the packages through Customs and on their way to us... Next year, I'll be ordering from John Scheepers and buying bulbs locally...

I got no tracking number from them either. They don't ship with expensive mailing options, so they don't have tracking number, I think. But if the package is lost, they should replace... Now, I think they start worrying themselves that two of the packages are not arriving. I wonder when I should write to them about my (and Cindee's) package...
I should have a lot of packages arriving to me for a while now and I am quite disappointed that I am not getting them. Cindee mailed her package long ago, and last time she sent me something, it was here in a day... I wonder why it takes longer for USPS to deliver now.
Waiting is always a pain. Especially when you have ordered from the company that has the best reputation of having the greatest bulbs available out there...
I hope, soon we will smile at this and fondle our bulbs. :o)

I received a response from RC... they say to wait a week, and if I don't have my package, to contact them again and they will handle it... which makes me feel a little better.

I cannot imagine shipping without tracking numbers, especially internationally... we ship on a regular basis to Puerto Rico, and Priority Mail always has a tracking number. RC says that the French Post Priority does not have tracking numbers... and that's how our packages are mailed.

I must say, though, that next year I'll be ordering from within our borders. I'm not thrilled with the service from overseas. I have weather to contend with, and I wouldn't want a box of bulb mush to arrive at my door!

Hopefully, you will have very nice bulbs to arrive to your door... I can imagine poor RC to reply to hundreds of e-mails lately about the late shipment. I still like them. Wonderful bulbs and they perform well.

I must say... I haven't been thrilled with the ordering this year... the only company to come though so far has been John Scheepers... I'll be ordering more from them next year, but besides that, I'll probably just buy locally.

If you can buy locally, that is always better, since you like to fondle your bulbs... But what can you do when there are no new varieties for you anymore... Then you go online... I hope you will be completely happy with your Royal Colors order once it arrives. I have not been unhappy with their bulbs so far... They seem to have the healthiest and most reliable bunch of bulbs (thus growers) available.

I'm sure they do, it's just that the shipment is so late, and I fear the weather will turn too cold before it arrives... I really wish the bulbs were available earlier in the season... it's such a short time for a plant to be available...

They are selling up to May though, and their bulbs are very well taken care of in the mean time. I believe I got my bulbs from them around April or so, and they all have flowered for me wonderfully with several scapes.

Here is Top Choice six weeks from planting. More established and hopefully more roots now, has produced it's 3rd scape with bigger flowers(5) and more pronounced flower shape.

Indoors...
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Outdoors...
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And finally capturing it's true color...
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Oh but those are pretty! Perfect antidote to our grey December morning weather!

I have 18 scapes up but they are in very slow motion moving toward bloom! Excrutiatingly slow motion!

It's gorgeous, Maria! My Pamela is in bloom right now, and the color is just so intense and lovely... it has 3 scapes, and they are all perfect heights... these miniatures are really wonderful plants!

I've got Top Choice near the beginning of my wish list... it's one of the ones I want the most!

I love that satiny shimmer. and am trying to develope a bigger and better fiower.

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ARIF