I love Amaryllis, so gorgeous and showy!!

You got some really gorgeous ones, Alice. I only wish the gorgeous flowers would last a bit longer - here, unless the weather is really cool, they only bloom for a week or less. Then we have the big, lush foliage for the whole rest of the year . . . have to interplant so there's something else interesting where their clumps are. It's better once they form a clump in the garden, then the flowers come along in succession for a longer time.

I interplanted my amaryllis with the fireball Lilly and had to put succulents so the pots don't look empty when dormant. Mine are due for repotting.

I needed some color after the December freeze so I invested in the big hybrid bulbs at our local ACE. They went on sale after Christmas so there was a little discount, not much, but they have been worth it. They were all in bud and about to bloom when I bought them. Blossom Grandise flowers are 6" across and there were 11 flowers on the first scape. The second scape is about to open and there is a third coming. All 4 bulbs had or have 3 flowering scapes. I moved them outdoors as soon as the weather moderated and the flowers last a lot longer outside. All the bulbs had little bulblets already. Not sure if I will put them in the ground or keep them potted.

Finally, we have had some sun here in Michigan, although it has been in the single digits here at night. Here is one way to get through a dark cold winter: The Singapore National Orchid & Bromeliad garden tour. Around 10:30 the focus is on phalaenopsis with their blooming stalks trained to "weep" down. Amazing what warmth, humidity and good culture can do! I looked up the average weather in Singapore, and one website said that is ranges from the high 70s at night and around 90 degrees during the day; the average humidity is 83%.

The Singapore National Orchid & Bromeliad tour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Enjoy!

Ooh, I'd love to visit that wonderful facility, and Singapore in general. My husband has been there several times on business, but I had to firmly "encourage" him to go and tour the big facility.

Sunny, the Phals are not trained to cascade downwards like that, it is their natural way of growing. The plants naturally attach to branches and trunks of trees with the leaves and flowers hanging down.

Standing upright with stakes on the stems like we see them here is completely unnatural, and is one reason so many people fail with Phals - the cup of leaves needs to drain so they don't develop crown rot, and facing upwards prevents that. Growers aren't motivated to teach people this, since they sell more orchids if people kill them off. Plus, you can pack more of them in a box with flower stems standing up . . .

Ol batty mc battus. Tacca.
Looks like an orchid, called bat orchid but is a part of the yam family haha how much further apart can you get...

Shazza, those are beauties, black and a white one together look very cool. We can grow those here in Florida in late summer/fall too. I guess February in Oz is about equivalent to August for us here.
Here's my black Bat in full glorious bloom last September.

Shazza and Elaine, you guys are killing me, those are gorgeous!!

for a bat 🦇 name those look gorgeous!

I have a green one. I've never been certain if it's a hybrid, or a separate species. It was sold briefly as Tacca 'Emerald isle' over 15 years ago. I've never seen it for sale since.
The 'wings' are a dusky grey green but the true flowers are a lovely blue green. And the whiskers are much longer than Tacca integrifolia (the white) or Tacca chantrieri (the black) and they are this lovely purple

Ooo, that one's a beauty, Gina. Lovely colors.

Gina, that is a lovely one and I have never seen it before. The blue green flowers are so different.

I always wanted to grow one. But they are big plants!

The White (Integrifolia) is the largest one (besides Leontopetaloides, the atypical leaf one, which is less commonly grown). The black (chantrieri) and this green one are much much smaller.
I still have not discovered if this Green one is a hybrid or a species. There IS a species of Tacca called the green tacca (Tacca plantaginea) but my Green Emerald/Emerald Isle do not match photos on the net of that one. The true flowers are not the same color nor are the whiskers

Alice your 2 caladiums are in the recently popular photos

Thanks Gigi.

ardesia said: Thanks Gigi.

You are

Orchid-adjacent.... Utricularia blanchetii; some clones smell like sugary vanilla. This one does! It's very prolific with blooms too. Remind me of tiny angry pirates.

The bladders of U. calycifida, bigger pink flowers on this one. The bladder traps are very large for a terrestrial bladderwort.
x30 magnifying loupe

This is a very old bloom, so not representing what it should look like...

Cute! The scent is surely a bonus!