Egypt4u

All looking good LLL and that is definately a flower bud
I also agree with you that the bulbs should (should) fatten up once they are outside after flowering.

Minerva finally opened. Only TWO blooms so am feeling quite cheated of a nice display. Interestingly the colour is quite a coral. Not sure how it'll come out on individual screens but sure not red. The other bud is still tight so am hoping it will have 4 flowers when it does finally come out.





And Superstar is now past his prime.



However I am getting one more flower stalk out of him. And the fast grow momentum has started.

Nice colour, but are you sure there are not another two small flower buds in between the open ones? My Red Lion is about to open so more piccies when it does.

@H - I wish there were two more flower buds but nope nada zip zilch. Just two flowers pointing at a 180 from each other. Feel kinda cheated at not getting a full huge flower so, for me, Minerva could easily find herself keeping Grandad's bulb company in the bin.

Superstar actually had 6 flowers off each stalk. Mostly I've always had 4 blooms.

A quick update, this is a general shot of my remaining two Amaryillis plants and my Moth Orchid which you can see has now been in full flower now for well over a month. The very tall one (at nearly 3 feet high) is the third flowering stem from my 'Tres Chic' bulb which grew after I had cut down the other two flower spikes when the flowers had finished. The one on the right is my Red Lion which should be fully open by next week and the last one of all to flower, sorry that the piccie is a bit blurred.

Today I cut off the two tall Superstar stalks. The flowers were essentially almost all gone so before it had any thought to start making a seed pod(s) I cut both off. Now I have the third bud stalk starting about 3" - 4" high.

Minerva's flower stalk started to fall over. I propped it but with only two flowers it hardly has any top weight so I'm adding weak flower stalk to its other list of deficits.

I still have two Red Lion in flower and lovely they are - my last one yet to bloom is the tardy Minerva.

The flower buds are just starting to open, but it'll be a few days before it's complete I reckon. It is enormously tall with no leaves and just the one stem.

I had 5 bulbs in all and the habit of every one has been different - even the 2 Red Lion are different from each other. I don't think it's easy with the kind of bulbs available to predict results.

How is yours doing Grandad?

I got tired of my 'Tres Chic' bulbs third flower stem growing absolutely huge, it did have a large flower but I cut it off and stood it in a vase. All of my bulbs have really drained themselves of energy after the efforts of flowering apart from the Monster, they really need to be outside and planted in the soil still in their pots to build themselves back up again, but it is far too cold just yet.

I was quite disappointed overall in Minerva. The second flower stem has 4 buds but will actually bloom over the next few days so I won't get to see it anyway. It was way too slow and took its own sweet time growing.

Superstar really was a star. The 3rd bud stem will bloom in about 2 week, 'might' get to see it when I'm home but really it'll probably be done by then however the leaves should be coming out. As Superstar was a large bulb like The Monster I'm going to try and keep it growing. Minerva will join Grandad's bulb in the bin simply as I don't think the bulb is going to have much oomph left to bloom again (or if it does it is going to take it a few years).

Will have to see what I'll get next year but far as I can figure the two amaryllis I had this year were very slow to get started and bloom. Other years I've always had amaryllis for Christmas but these guys were quite late.

I mentioned before that I was interested in propagating my bulbs and found this online:-


That is a pretty lusty bulb methinks. bet he didn't get it from Tesco!

Interesting video MD, shame I couldn’t understand what he was saying, they are a South American native plant from what I understand. I have looked at several other videos linked with the one you posted and they all show people cutting the bulb into 4 sections, some even show the bulb being sliced through into many sections like cutting up an onion. What is pretty obvious from all those videos is that the bulbs are very cramped and the soil is quite course and gritty and well packed down, unlike the loose coya that they include with the ones sold here. If you remember I potted the ‘Monster’ in gritty cactus compost which seems to have worked very well and it was actually very similar in size to the one in your link but without the root mass. The only problem with those propagation methods is the time they must take to reach a size that will eventually flower, I think I will just see if mine will survive until I can just plunge the pots into the garden and see if the bulbs will build themselves back up again.

I hoped the gravel would help mine totally agree with you about the compost - coir and peat are not suitable.

I am very surprised at the way people treat bulbs, much of it makes no sense to me, as I used to grow a lot of onions for example. I prefer to let the green leaves die back naturally, I find that then the roots too have sent everything back into the bulb in preparation for dormancy. To cut them off when they are flourishing may be convenient for transportation, but can't be good for the bulb in my opinion.

With flowers if I want to keep the bulbs I make sure they don't set seed, because again the energy is redirected away from the bulb. It's just an extra touch as after all growing naturally they will set seed, but of course we can't grow them under natural conditions.

Minerva has opened two flowers and has two more to come - at last!

She is very tall and only has a tiny start of a leaf.

I had a poke around the base of the amaryllis and found at least two are definitely bigger in the bulb than when I bought them - but they have flowered, no seeds and I left the stems to wither by themselves. Their leaves are lovely, thick dark green and about 3ft long. I think feeding will start in a couple of weeks.

I think I mentioned a little campanula growing out of a crack in the path in the back garden. It hasn't stopped being sprinkled with blue star like flowers since late summer. It's survived frosts and immersion in water, gales and even the baby seagull who managed to kill the weeds, but not this lovely little plant. It's mother lives in the wall in a crack in the render and has for several years, surviving even my daughter removing all it's leaves as she though it was a weed. It only flowers once a year though.

However back in the house, my first little daffs have opened their flowers and two of the hyacinths are showing pink, excellent job.

On the subject of Daffs, ours are always late in my neck of the woods, but at long last mine are starting to show through. I have a line of bulbs along the edge of a small open garden area and I planted them 2 years ago, they came up last year but not a single flower amongst them all even though the bulbs were quite big when I planted them. They are popping up now, but at least I can see quite a few flower buds already so here's hoping.

I took a little break. Things to do, but as my desktop is in the living room I could not walk past without checking emails and seeing what was happening on here and on other sites. It was becoming a bit obsessive so I took a step back and contemplated my Amaryllis. I was becoming very disheartened by all the success you other folks were having, what was I doing wrong?
So I have spent a couple of weeks talking to and encouraging my Red Lion and I'm happy to say she has responded. Got there before Easter H but long after last Christmas. Here are a few piccies from this morning. Most times I have taken pictures against a venetian blind so I have called my pictures "Star and Stripes"

Well you certainly can't complain about that one, good shape and really nice colour, now keep it fairly cool and the flowers will last a lot longer.
Mine have now all finished.

Welcome back Gradad, we've missed you.

My last Red Lion finished just over a week ago but my long awaited Minerva just has a 4 flowered head on a very tall stem with only a 1" inch long leaf. I think I may have joined you in the tardy stakes.

Wow! That is seriously impressive, Grandad! Never mind about it not being ready for Christmas - it was worth waiting for! Well done you! You give me new hope!

@Grandad. Well worth the wait! Got more to say b will have to wait until I am back on a regular keyboard

The second bloom on the lower stem has opened during this evening. I am hoping that the flowers on the taller stem will open before the first two drop. I am taking your tip H and keeping it slightly cool. It is a gorgeous colour though and all for a fiver from Tesco.