I'm sad. Of well, there is always google books... Found some old French books with advice on growing and blooming them. Only back then they were called amaryllis.

If I manage to get some seeds, I will post the results. It would be interesting to try unconventional methods. Do you know how Laurier did to get his seeds to grow and bloom in a year?

Before he passed away he said he discovered a method and was about to publish an ebook on the subject.

I have 2 or 3 varieties of papilio. Someone on the board was very generous and sent them to me about a year or so ago. Prior to those I had several bulbs, but I lost them to a hard freeze. Right now, all of my plants are looking great (one is a little worse for wear... I put it outside in stormy weather and one of the leaves was damaged). I'm hoping one of the bulbs will bloom this year, even if I only get one flower! The bulbs are all still a bit small to bloom, I think.

I believe there is a strain called the Doran strain that will self and set seeds. I bought one a few years ago from Arghya Gardens. It is supposedly more green in color than usual papilios that we can buy here and there but although mine is healthy I haven't been able to test the theory that it can self, as mine hasn't yet bloomed. If I'm mistaken about this someone will let us know....☺☺

I have a Doran collection Papilio also (a generous gift from a bulb fairy on this site). It's not yet big enough to bloom. I was told that the flowers are much more green, rather than a greenish-cream colored.

As for Laurier's experiment it might have been about coconut peat salt free or some other substrate with growth hormones and of course no rest period. Could temperature have anything to do with it?

Thank you! I bought some seeds of some wild Papilio strains. Hopefully, they will do well the first few years so we can see how the flowers look.