Never heard of that one Fred but I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures soon!

Congratulations Fred!! Some of these bulbs do need to be babied for years and I guess your care did the trick! I never got one but I do have Komoriya's stock picture. It looks to me like a miniature. Hopefully, yours will have 4 flowers like the stock picture! We can't wait to see!

Donna, that is the one I ordered that wound up being pretty woman. I remember a picture with a hand in it that made the flower look tiny. Fred, I hope this turns out to be the one you want. How big is the bulb?

Hi Donna and Jody,

Thanks for the info and I hope it does turn out to be a mini :-))) It took about three years to bulk up enough to flower. The bulb is just about 3" across, quite plump and green. I'll take a picture of it tomorrow and definitely when it flowers.

So here's what it looks like. You can see the very beginning of a scape forming :-))))

Weren't folks saying that their bulbs seem to do better with bottom heat?

Some definitely do, especially if you live in a colder climate but I think that they also like to be fed more often too. I have been experimenting with different fertilizers and thanks to this group, I have settled on Jack's/Peter's classic 20-20-20 water soluble fertilizer (the blue stuff) with great results. In the summer, when they go outside, I feed them at full strength two to three times a month and they really seem to respond. Hippies are notorious for being heavy feeders as long as they get some regular water or rain in between to flush out the salt buildup.