Might these be selfs or was something else blooming in your garden that your little bee might have visited before landing on your gorgeous aulicum?

Yes, they are selfs. No other flowers blooming for at least four months either side of this winter bloom. My other Aulicums were not in flower- this was the only one at that time....and nothing nearby either. Neighbours all around are not even sure what a hippeastrum is, let alone grow one themselves! Hard to believe, I know!

Thank you for sharing this information and your wonderful pictures! We have so many wild bees here too and we need them to produce seeds and fruits. The greatest part of all our food could not be produced without honey bees and wild bees so we should really take care of them!

Do you get viable seeds from those aulicum seedpods? I always thought it was self sterile...

Happy growing!

Anja

Yes, Anja. I have many self-seedlings growing from this plant. It always produces lovely big fat seedpods with a high germination rate. Seedlings are tough. To date, I haven't lost a single one, once sprouted. Was sold to me as 'Quiririm'. Flowers are large- 17cm x 16cm. A particularly lovely example. Although, frustratingly, no sign of any off-sets as yet!

I know they are supposed to be slow in coming, but does anyone have any idea when I could expect off-sets? The bulb is 4 to 5 years old and healthy.

Seedlings from 2017, and the little ones in front are from a few weeks ago.

I don't know if there is a certain age when they start to produce offsets. I got my bulb of aulicum one year ago and it has produced three offsets since then. Some of my Hippeastrum seedlings start to produce offsets in their second year, so I think some bulbs do produce offsets more easy than others.

I could try to to send you an offset of my aulicum. Just message me if you are interested...

Anja

Hi Julie,

What stunning blooms!!! I love the color and markings on them, especially the first picture :-)))))

Just a gorgeous specimen of aulicum!! Your pictures are outstanding!! Makes me yearn for mine to bloom!!

I can't wait until some of your seedling bloom!!

Donna

Anja- thank you for your kind offer. I have a few younger and much smaller unrelated aulicum that I am still waiting to see flower, and I can see they have small off-sets already. It is only this one very much larger, mature bulb......that seems so happy to expand in girth and set seed .....but does not show any inclination to off-set. I'm not sure if the 'Quiririm' title is correct, but this is what it was labeled - I have a hard time telling the difference between some of these aulicum! They vary so much within their type! But I am grateful that this plant is so generous with setting seed, at least!

....and Donna, I am most curious to see these self seedlings bloom myself! I'm sure they will all be similar, and just as beautiful as their parent. But it will be very interesting to see if there is some wonderful variation that pops up in there somewhere!

Julie, please don't forget to post pictures when your seedlings bloom! I just love your aulicum!!! :-) It seems to be much darker than the one I have and has that lovely red throat...

This year's blooming is a bit of a surprise, with four flowers on the first stalk to emerge.....and then six on the following stalk! The third stalk to come up was back to two flowers, which is what I have had over previous years.

Is this number of blooms usual for Aulicums? For some reason I had the idea that two to four flowers was the norm for this species.

And for the first time, I have some other Aulicums blooming for me. All three bulbs have flower spikes, but this is the first to bloom....

I'm hoping that the other two bulbs will turn out to be a bit different, so that I have a few varying styles in my collection, but as the other two are only just emerging now, it will still be awhile before I can find this out!

Julie, this is spectacular!!! Is this the same bulb that produced the seeds? How do you feed your bulbs? I've seen pictures of H. aulicum with four flowers but never with six! Congratulations!

Are the other bulbs seedlings of the big bulb?

Anja

Hi Julie,

Lucky you :-))) That is an amazing accomplishment and they look so beautifully healthy. I love the channeled leaves, they give the whole plant a very robust look. I have a few too and they're still young but hopefully they'll flower a beautiful as yours :-)))

Hi Julie,

This is just spectacular!! I've never seen an aulicum with multiple flowers like this. The norm appears to be 2 with 3 or 4 once in a blue moon!! Take special care of this plant, it may have a special gene in it that promotes multiple flowers!!

Thanks for making my day!!

Donna

Anja, yes, this is the same plant that produced the seeds. So far it is the only Aulicum I have that has flowered and produced seedpods for me, and it does so readily. I have fed it with slow release Osmacote, and once in a while some Seasol liquid fertilizer, and occasionally some PowerFeed liquid fertilizer ( also from the makers of Seasol ), but otherwise it receives no other feeding. I'm not regular with feeding- just whenever I think they could so with some I water a little in.

The other flowering bulbs are not seedlings from this plant. The were bought from another grower as very small seedlings. This grower had two varieties, and that is why I am hoping that I may have some different looking ones in there.

My own self-seedlings of the darker flowering plant are as yet too young to flower themselves. But I'm hoping by next year I will have some of the more advanced ones bloom for me- if I'm lucky.

.....here is Powerfeed. I don't know if it is available to you. On the back it is labeled as 'Seasol International'.

Although the six flowers look great, I still prefer two uncrowded flowers per stem. But that's just me :)

Fred- I hope yours are just as nice. They are such a rewarding flower, and blooming at a different time of year is a wonderful treat!

Donna- thank you for the info. That was what I was after. I thought is was a bit unusual as I had only noticed two flowers on all the photos I have seen so far.

I must say, six flowers is a bit crowded! I wonder what will happen next year?

I'll post the last two bulb's flowers when they arrive. The scapes are only a few inches/centimeters high as yet.

...here are the six blooms. One bud still to open!

Thank you Julie! I looked up your seasol power feed but I think that its just available in Australia. I think your blooms look just wonderful!

I have three seedlings of your beautiful aulicum growing (thank you again :-)). They are still small but I hope the blooms will look the same as their mothers...

Julie,

They look amazing, very much like a cluster of exotic orchids and the color is out of this world :-)))

....and I meant to add - at long, long last, after all these years, a little off-set has appeared!

This is great news Julie, take care of it! It is amazing to see that your bulb seems to be quite small. I think mine is about the same size but I only get one scape with two flowers every year...

Bulb seems to shrink a little when flowering. It looks larger normally. Usually I wouldn't see this shrinking and expanding of a bulb, but as I keep this one sitting on top of the soil as much as possible, it is in full view and very noticeable. I'm thrilled about the off-set as I very much want to have a back-up bulb in case something ever happens to the main bulb.....as you would all understand.

I hope your ones turn out to be just as rewarding and do well for you, Anja!

Julie

At last the second aulicum bulb in this pot has flowered, and it turned out to be a very nice ruby-red ( digital camera can not capture the true colour ). It also has a darker throat, but not as dramatic as my original aulicum. There is no orange over-tone in this bloom. Petals are thinner as well.

Unfortunately, the last bulb's flower spike didn't make it, so colour is unknown for another year. Bulb started rotting at the crown, although it is kept out of the rain. It's cleaned up now and drying out and should be okay. The rest of the bulb is firm and healthy.

Below are my three styles so far.....

Julie

Three absolutely lovely ladies and I especially love the middle one :-)))) Thanks for sharing.

Thank you, Fred. I'm lucky they all turned out in different styles.....and I agree with you, although the others are lovely, my middle original one is still by far the most outstanding - in my opinion!

I love this picture, Julie, because it is so nice that you can really compare the flowers. And I agree with you and Fred, that your good old H. aulicum is the most beautiful :-)

Thanks, Anja. Hopefully next year I can add the fourth flower, if the bulb decides to flower without rot!

Your aulicums are beautiful. Love them all, thank you for posting and showing us your beautiful flowers.