Please help me identify this beautiful flower. I would like to separate and transplant, but I'm not sure what it is. I think it is an Amaryllis or Crinum, but I'm not sure. Thanks in advance for any help.
Hello Paula, looks like Amaryllis to me. Here is a nice link with cultural info. They say you can either separate out the little bulbs into separate pots or repot the whole thing in a larger pot for a big show. Personally I like the big show idea.
Hippeastrum 'Apple Blossom'. Commonly, but mistakenly, referred to as Amaryllis; genus Amaryllis has one species, A. belladonna and several named varieties, 'Hathor' and 'Parkeri', there may be others. I lost several hippeastrums and a Sprekelia formosissima to leather jackets one year, one of them being H. 'Apple Blossom', the only scented one that I'm aware of.
Hello pporter; greetings from Germany This is a nice cultivar or to be more exact a hybrid of Hippeastrum (= gardener's amaryllis = knight star lily). It is clearly not an "Appleblossom". Watch a genuine Appleblossom here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/0867.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/Appelblossom.jpg Your cultivar is a tiny treasure compared to Appleblossom. You shold never get rid of this plant. I presume that it is a very old hybrid. Separation of bulb clusters is best performed at the beginning of the new growth season and more easy when the soil is completely dry then. Does your plant form seedpods after self pollinating?! Then you can raise seedlings, too, and the diversity of seedlings will provide you additional joy! Hello Chris; thank you for the information on the impact of leather jackets = maggots of Tipulid flies. However, if you have found yellowish maggots in the core of the bulbs these originated from the big narcissus bulb fly! A dangerous predator of all amaryllid bulbs... http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/NarcissusBulbFly And yes, Appleblossom has a certain perfume; I confirm herewith. A very weak fragrance although, and similar to the perfume in skin creams. Hans-Werner
hummm, I thought I had an appleblossm too??? Here is a pic, if one is an applebloddom, then what is the other? How can you tell the difference? I have found that the best time to separate and repot is when they go dormant (although sometimes need a little help taking their nap). You can Keep them as a clump which is nice, but IMO should still be repoted to have adequate separation to allow bulb growth and provide fresh growing medium.
Well, fourd; and to all friends and experts of Hippeastrums... Your's IS an Appleblossom. Please note that the color pattern and particularly the color strength vary considerably depending on the environmental conditions. In general it can be said that the color saturation is deeper in unfiltered sunlight, but this is not the whole true brother Jacob (as we say in Germany). The first of my pictures above shows blooms from forcing outdoors this spring, solely under a polyethylene foil (very important: Against rainfalls...) and the 2nd is from 2003 indoors forcing of the same identical plant (Bulb cluster). Your image shows more pronouncedly the feature "striped" of Appleblossom. Some diversity of flowers from H."Appleblossom" is shown in http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/jour/p/40/gw1087540/page.html How can I TELL the difference?! Good question. I DO NOT know yet. "Simply" experience I admit... B.T.W: Did your Appleblossom ever develop seed pods?! A refusal to doing so is one more "hint" to the identity; I was never successfull in obtaining seeds from Appleblossom, regardless whether I self- or cross-pollinated it. On the other hand its pollen is fully viable. Hans-Werner There exists so many beautufull gardener's amaryllis cultivars... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/0892.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/0939_s.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/0937_s.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/0782.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/0886.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/0906.jpg
Nice plants! Hippeastrum is perhaps my favorite indoor plant. I've actually learned alot from just these few posts! No I have not had seeds. I have tried hap-hazard cross pollination (didn't want to ruin the blooms) but no pods. Now that I know, I'll try it to pollinate this one (orchid?), although I think this one too may be infertal ... could try with my papilio -- a project for next spring!
Yes Crossbreeding with H.papilio is a rewarding project. I possess an evergreen clone of this species: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/papilio10001.jpg I pollinated it many times unsuccessfully with pollen from tetraploid hybrids. At last I obtained 2 (two) viable seeds using "Donau" a pink violet hybrid from the gracilis section. The stronger of the two seedlings has produced a lot of beautifull flowers of unusual shape: The upper segments on the right and left side are the strongest. Both seedlings were self fertile and thus indicating that these were not sterile triploid dead-end hybrids and "regenerated" tetraploids instead. Certainly you understand the important implication thereof...*ggg* http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/0689.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/0696.jpg In the next year I obtained seeds using pollen from my best seedling of "Donau" x "Ambiance": http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/Donau_x_Ambiance.jpg The blooms of these seedlings have emerged this year. They have an uncommon shape, so wild-looking and... completely according to my personal taste. Unfortunately all proved to be steriles. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/1004_s.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/1003.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/1029.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/1061.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/1047.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/1104.jpg What I found most striking was the remarkable similarity in shape to H.aulicum v.robustum: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/haweha/Haulicum0370.jpg Liebe Gruesse Hans-Werner
Well, I'm just a software engineer with gardening as a hobby. I come from an avid family of gardeners, so my knowledge is limited to info from family and what I have picked up on over the years. That is to say I'm not knowledgeable, well, I though I was untill I found the UBC forums -- these folks are the best! But I'm certainly not. Well, OK, I can probably take a stabe at this, but I think there are infinite implications! First, as you noted crossing diploid with tetraploid hybrids leads to either sterility or reverting to tetraploid dominance. So first significance is you have apeared to over come this, but there is more. Add to this that closely related diploid species/hybrids are incompatable, you fertiles add the possibility of X2 diploid hybreds -- significant no? Finally given that current cultivars are primarly tetraploids, well, the doors are wide open for endless possibilities in future and new Hybrids. Anyway that is my stab at it. Do I come close? You know, these are really spectacular H. papillio crosses -- I like!!!
