Oh my goodness!!!! She is absolutely gorgeous. I hope your blossom sticks around a little longer too. If not, you may get lucky with your second bloom.

Oh Elena, I hope they let the bulblet through the customs! Fingers crossed...

Anja, just a stunning picture!! You captured the flower beautifully while the pollen sac are still purple, love it!!!!! Unfortunately, I don't know much about the differences in the different aulicums either, but I'll bet someone here does!! Take heart, if your pollen doesn't make it through customs in time, as I might have mentioned before, you'll have the pollen and if someone here, if not you, has a papilio bloom, you can

donate some pollen and we'd share the seeds.

I have 3 or 4 different bulbs of papilio but nothing looks like it's going to wake up any time soon, all have leaves though as I always grow them as evergreen. I wish I could help you!!

Last year I bought another papilio from RC and it bloomed almost immediately after it arrived so there's always that option (are they still selling them?)

A very beautiful aulicum!

I dont have some papilio pollen but I have some evansiae/anzaldoi pollen in the freezer.

Pretty! I killed my aulicums and it's hybrids for some reason so I gave up on it. LOL

Try again Maria, If I can grow them I think you should be able to. I went through about 4 or was it 5 from Komoriya but at last count I still have two of them growing well and I have over the past several years bought several from Telos and those are doing OK too. Recently, Telos was offering some "red aulicums" so I certainly had to try those. Her stuff always comes very healthy with leaves and great roots.

Also, from our dear friend Jim in Pennsylvania who sent out seeds one year, I have one of those that managed to make it through a bout with mealy bugs! I had a pot of about 5 and they all died but this one. So, try again!!

Oh I hate those dang mealy bugs!!!!!!! I can't tell you how many of my prized plants have been munched by them. It's an all out war and I get such satisfaction when I squish them!!!!!!

Nahhh....I’ve accepted the fact that I cannot grow them all Donna. And Aulicum is one of them. I’ll just enjoy the pictures of your aulicums. They love it in Australia and here’s a picture of them blooming in a hippie friend’s shade house. These are all seed grown and showing the variations in aulicums. He even has a pink one!

OMG!! Wouldn't I love to have a pink one like that!!! Stunning!!

That's it!!!! I'm moving to Australia!!!!!

Anja, the veining is beautiful. I hope your pollen comes through in time.

Thank you all :-) I love the veining too and the purple pollen sacs :-))

Thank you papillonmina, I sent you a pm.

Donna, are all of your aulicums the same or are they different? Did you ever try to cross them? Maybe you get a pink one... Are they reblooming for you or just growing?

Maria, this picture is stunning! Thank you for posting it! I don't want to move to Australia but I would certainly like to live in a place where I could grow them in a flower bed. It's just too cold outside here...

I still don't know whether I could grow aulicum or not. I got this small bulb without leaves this summer. It grew four leaves some time after planting and surprised me with a bud. I must search for further informations about their likes and dislikes.

Anja

Anja, I think I might have at least 2 maybe 3 different varieties of aulicum plus the red one (but that's a baby) but alas, currently they just grow leaves. I had one from Komoriya bloom and it was different than the ones from Telos that bloomed for me about 4? years ago but neither of them labeled their variety, they might have been grown from seed and don't really know exactly what they are. No matter, they're all beautiful.

As for that gorgeous pink one hopefully they will manage to get some offsets and be able to preserve that bulb at least. I laughed at your comment about the Chinese sellers, it's almost amusing what they steal and what they list, some listings make no sense at all, total nonsense!!

Australians really have an advantage growing hippies from seeds as they get variations. Unlike us that just buy the bulbs. This pink one came out from seeds from Brazil. Y’all can see that they continuously grow their hippies there. No forcing to rest on winter if they really have one! Lol

Hello all))

Oh, Mary! The picture of a pink Aulicum took me to my head! In my arsenal, only three varieties of aulicum, the first such as Anja, and it already blossomed last year, and the second one, which I grew from Brazilian seeds, it still did not blossom, but differed visually. I hope he blossoms soon. The third from Kamoria - growing slowly

Interestingly, the pink variety is or pure species?

It is a pure specie.

Anna, your Aulicum is gorgeous and Maria that pink one is amazing! Re the Aulicum, wasn't there a discussion where it was mentioned that they didn't like/grow in the heat? Or am I hallucinating lol. - J

They'd better like cool winters because this is what I can offer them...

Elena, maybe you will be lucky and get a pink one too from your Brazilian seeds! I cross my fingers and hope that is flowers soon:-)

Anja

Anja, thanks for the kind words)) but rather it will be red with a white throat, because this is species from Brazil , and in the catalog dont have pink is definitely not there ..

I also have a cold winter, my aulicums hibernate in the room, try to give them more light and do not fill watering them, they, like reticulatums, are prone to decay in cold weather.

Kristi has a beautiful and healthy aulicum clump that regularly blooms for her in her garden in Spring, Texas. She would protect her hippies in her greenhouse when it gets freezing outside. So I would think that it can take milder winter temperatures and a few days of hot temps in summer.

"BE CAREFUL WHEN JUDGING...". Take it from the expert!

Hope these infos from Mauro help you guys and gals! Happy aulicum growing and blooming everyone!

That is so beautiful :-))))) Thanks for posting Mauro's very interesting and informative messages.

Thank you Maria, for posting this helpful informations and of course for the beautiful pictures! Do I see aulicum with three or even four flowers on that picture?

Elena, it seems that there is hope for you :-) I actually like the orange/red one very much...

Anja

Yes Anja there are aulicums that can bear 4 flowers per scape as you can see on the above pictures (Australia and Brazil). Pink, orange, red, very dark red...they are all beautiful for me.

Wow))) Looking at this photo ... I can say - anything can happen!

Yes...maybe somewhere in some of the aulicums in Brazil is a recessive gene that produces pink flowers. So when you grow them from seeds, majority will be red/red orange as this is the dominant color. There will be a very very slight chance that they can have pink/pinkish color.

Did your pollen ever arrive?? I wish I could help, But I won't have blooms for weeks. Seeing your species blooms really gets my mouth watering, but the only one readily available here in Spain is Papilio (as far as I know anyway). Best of luck and hopefully you'll get many seeds.

I already got some calyptratum pollen. It is just a little but I will try for sure. Anzaldoi pollen is on it's way and papilio may arrive in time too. The second flower just opened today and even the first doesn't look ready for pollination yet. So there is still time... I will tell you how many seeds I'll get :-))

Hi Anja,

I wish you all the luck on your pollinating attempts :-))) Please keep us posted on your results.

Fred

Anja , I am just discovering your post , I love the color of your aulicum !!! I cross finger for your pollination attemps.

Thank you, Béatrice! I'm totally in love with that aulicum :-) Papilio pollen arrived today! I just dicovered that the first flower has a lot of nectar inside. is that normal for aulicum? I know that from some of the cybisters but usually i notice it when it is dropping on the table...

Oh My Goodness what a beautiful picture :-))))) I have quite a few hippies that drip nectar and every once in a while I can't resist tasting it. It tastes like honey, no wonder birds and butterflies go crazy for it :-)))))

Congratulations on receiving your pollen!! My fingers are crossed that this cross takes for you!!!

That's amazing that at close inspection of the last picture of pink aulicums it appears that most all of them (pink) appear to have 4 flowers!!!!

I wonder if Rosario's pink genes might show themselves in a cross between the two?? So many opportunities but only 2 flowers!!! ;-)))

Fred, that is good to know that you tasted the nectar! I was thinking of trying it but I wasn't sure if it might be poisonous like the rest of the plant. I will taste it tomorrow! I just thought that could be a sign that the flower wanted someone to come with pollen...

Yes Donna, it's a pity that there are only two flowers! But I'm pretty sure that my Rosario will flower in spring and at least one of the blooms is already reserved for aulicum pollen...

Rosario X aulicum sounds very pretty!

I have a Doran papillo clone that produces a lot of nectar too, and I couldn’t resist tasting it either! Light and sweet. None of my papillos bloomed last year so hopefully they feel like it this time.

I have an aulicum robustum putting up the first scape of the season, so I’m excited to see what that one looks like. It may even bloom for Christmas!

Me too, my cybister #0016 was dripping with nectar and I tasted it too; no wonder humming birds love nectar so much, tastes just like the sugar mixture I make for them for their feeders!!! If it drips on your furniture and it hardens, you're in trouble!!

Everado, please post your aulicum robustum when it blooms we'd all love to see it!!!

Greetings to all)) Perhaps we are a bit of a bee ... I also tried nectar)) and believe me not thought about his virulence ....

Of course I tasted it and liked it too :-)))

And I thought if I taste the nectar I should bring some pollen to the flower. The first got a little calyptratum on Friday and also papilio the next day, when it arrived. The second flower got pollen of Green & Saturn and of H. evansiae. I just could'nt decide so I had to try all. And I really want to have seeds! Time will tell what seeds I got if I'll get any...

Yes, Everado, it will be interesting to see a known type of aulicum. I asked when I purchased mine but the grower didn't know exactly. She said something about robustum too but she was'nt really sure.

Well folks, I have to report that the first pod of this aulicum has withered! It was the flower which got calyptratum and papilio pollen. Since both crosses should produce viable seeds I'm really disappointed :-( There is still hope for the second pod although it didn't grew much yet...

Anja, I should have mentioned in the other thread that if you get another scape on your aulicum, I can send you a little papilio pollen for you to try, now that I have some.

I have several aulicums and one or two of them could bloom if they were in the mood so If I end up with seeds from this cross by some miracle, I'll share them with you don't worry, but don't hold your breath!! ;-)))

Hello Anja,

I'm sorry I did not see this before - I could have sent you deep-frozen aulicum pollen...

Hello, Anja! What a pity that the pollination did not work! ((((( But do not despair! Cross Aulicum X Papillio you will have))) a friend will sent me some seeds from Argentina and I will share with you necessarily!:))

Thank you all for your kind words and your offers to share, folks! I really appreciate this and I'm very happy to be part of that group here :-)))

Anja

It seems that the only way to be assured of blooming papilio when you need it is to buy a new bulb each year!! Last year I bought one from RC and it bloomed almost immediately and this year I got one as a mislabel from ETGB and it too bloomed shortly after arrival! Is there any website in Europe that is still selling them and if so, maybe you should seriously consider just buying another one. Your fresh aulicum pollen will remain fresh for many months in the fridge before you have to freeze it.

And, as I say, I have several more papilio bulbs that could bloom at any time if they were in the mood so I keep looking!!

No Donna, I won't look for another Papilio this year! There are still some new bulbs I haven't planted yet and I couldn't resist ordering new Sonatini bulbs :-) Either my Papilio decides to flower or I might buy another one next year. I guess there will be some other flowers in my collection that are happy with aulicum pollen...

If you see a papilio bud coming up just tell me, I'll send you aulicum pollen then.

If your Aulicum pollen is still fresh and dusty, get some glassine stamp envelopes and save it. In just a few months you will have a great assortment of the spring bloomers to put it on. What might Evergreen or Gervase produce ? Bon Chance.