Do you know what variety it is? If I didn't know any better, I would say it looks like x johnsonii? In any case congratulations on growing her in your climate, she looks quite healthy :-)))

I think these are all just the old heirloom x johnsonii also called Saint Joseph's Lilly. I have found that good drainage and not planting too deep seem to be key factors for long term survival of these out in my yard. I keep a few extras in a "nursey" area to replace ones that may not survive the winter. I always lose a few (only 1 this year).

Are there any other varieties that survive 7b/8a?

Three open blooms today and a better picture:

There are hardy garden Sonatinis that are supposed to do well, even in climates that get a bit colder in the winter. I'm in zone 8 and amaryllis seem to generally do well here (NOT Chicos or some of the warmer growing varieties), if there isn't too hard of a winter freeze. I imagine with a bit of protection many types of amaryllis would be just fine outdoors all year around in zone 7-8.

When I lived in TN the first time I grew Apple Blossom in the garden for many years. I moved and left it behind but it always did well for me. I also know a lady that grows dozens of Red Lions in an outdoor garden and they do well for her. It's really srunning in spring to see all of her plants in bloom at once. That's in TN zone 7 as well.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think the Amaryllis we have is my wife's favorite flower so I'd love to find ways to plant even more. We have a bunch of this variety and they are really nice when they hit their peak in late April.

You can try www.sonatini.com. They grow all their varities outside in the Netherlands. Some are supposed to be especially cold tolerant. You can write them and ask, they are really nice.

How deep do you plant them? Do you give them a special protection?

Anja

I don't plant them deep - they seem to rot easily if planted deep or in any kind of heavy soil. I plant them in well draining soil and add a mulch. I lose a few every year but most of them come back bigger each year. I have several that I will need to consider dividing in the fall.

I have a "nursery" area with extra bulbs I use to replace any that don't come back. That area gets a fair amount of sun by the garage and the soil there is high in organic matter and drains well.

There seem to be some of the sonatini bulbs available in the US but it looks like I missed the shipment window. I'll have to order some for next year - it would be nice to have some additional colors to go with the amaryllis I already have.

I love your photos! Obviously, they're getting what they need to thrive!

Those are beautiful! We used to live in Sanford and that was the first house where I planted my hand me down amaryllis plants. My current ones are splits from those first bulbs.

The first flower stalk now has 4 of its 6 flowers open. Once those fade, there is another scrape behind it ready to bloom:

In another bed, the show is just starting. The far left bulb has 10 scrapes this year:

Hi whitewatervol,

Your groups of h. johnsonii are very pretty. What you have there are clumps, several bulbs that have multiplied over the years due to offsets so those 10 scapes aren't coming from just one bulb, they are coming from possibly a half dozen in one clump!! That's what you get when you plant one bulb here and there and they're happy as yours obviously are, they multiply like crazy!!

Donna

The 20 - 30 "bulbs" I have now came from 3-4 bulbs years ago. I've divided these by pulling off babies bunches of times but they're staying put now as long as they are happy!