Beautiful blooms, Robin! Sorry to hear your cute kitty doesn't want to leave them alone. Maybe try bitter apple spray? I've read that all parts off an amaryllis are toxic to pets and people.

Here is a picture(s) from Christmas Eve. My red NOIDs (which all appear to be the exact same CV) started opening around Christmas. One scape opened Christmas Eve, the next on Christmas Day, and the other blooms opened just a day or two after.












This is a picture after I pulled the pollen heads off of the anthers (I'm getting ANOTHER h. striatum scape--this is that bulb's third bloom scape in 6 months!--so I hope to pollinate it once it blooms, I would love to hybridize for a red and white striped amaryllis).



Here is another NOID I have blooming right now:

Btw, I took measurements today of my red NOID. It's the same NOID I posted an ID request for awhile back but didn't have enough pictures or info about it. Now I do. :)

Height: ~ 47"
Bloom height: ~6"
Bloom width: ~5"
Petal width: ~2" to 2.5"
Petal length: ~4.75"
Buds per scape: 2-4 (I have four of this variety...two have 2 buds, one has 3 buds, and one has 4 buds)

It doesn't appear to be a red lion. I saw a red lion in the store yesterday and it was more of a true red. Mine is more of an orange-y or brick red, not a Christmas or apple red.

Beautiful!
And wow, they are tall!! The red one is gorgeous.

Thank you, Robin. The red ones are tall, that's for sure. Without measuring, the peach one is about a foot and a half tall, so it's much smaller (although the bulb may be younger and smaller, so it might not be at full height yet). I love the rich red one, though...it's such a great color and really makes a bold statement in the house.

Its great to see that the activity is picking up on this thread, love seeing the new blooms. I have 4 blooming now, just need to get the photos posted. In regards to the kitty and the Amaryllis. I believe that the most toxic part is the bulb,so its probably not going to hurt him to chew on the flowers, just will damage the appearance of the flowers. Its also a bad habit for him to get into, since no houseplant will be safe. Some cats are more interested in the dirt in the pot, and the digging will make a real mess. I had this problem many years ago, when I had house cats. I ended up putting my plants in an upended rabbit cage to protect them. Sounds excessive but it worked while things were in bloom. When I had a lot of houseplants, I built a wooden frame covered in chicken wire, which sat over the whole plant table. It had a door on the front and I used it for the four years that I was in that apartment. Later the whole table and cage unit was reused as a terrarium/ habitat, for a box turtle.

thanks, Barb. Fortunately, Amaryllis is the only houseplant I grow! My experience with my other cats is that they are initially curious about it but then eventually ignore it, so I'm hoping the same happens with him!

Catmint20906 said: they are initially curious about it but then eventually ignore it, so I'm hoping the same happens with him!

Me too. Cleaning dirt off of the floor isn't fun.

Developing Naranja -
Naranja - 2 stems, 1 has 4 blooms, the other 4 blooms and 1 bud not yet open. It is a giant! '
Now, it's top heavy and listing rather severely A stake with copper wire helped the stems stay straight initially but hasn't been overly helpful since the blooms have opened .
To attempt to maintain stabilization (or at least from 'falling over) I added a bunch of heavy geodes
to at least keep the pot from toppling...My fear is when the 5th top bloom opens the center of gravity may tip the scales negatively and precipitate a tragedy of no small proportion.

Wow! That naranja is about as top heavy as they come. Usually at this point, mine have toppled over and destroyed the blooms.

I finally have some decent photos of Quito from White Flower Farms. This new cybister amaryllis is very pretty. I just wish I hadn't lost the first scape on the WFF bulb, and the first two scapes on the RC bulb , which were over developed at shipping time.

Moscow from Royal Colors. The blooms are huge and showy, pure white with no pink defects and a pale green center. This one is a winner in my book.

Beautiful blooms, Barb and J!

I'm also having trouble with mine getting topheavy and listing... Staking sounds like a good idea

bsharf said:I finally have some decent photos of Quito from White Flower Farms. This new cybister amaryllis is very pretty. I just wish I hadn't lost the first scape on the WFF bulb, and the first two scapes on the RC bulb , which were over developed at shipping time.

• Amaryllis (Hippeastrum 'Quito')
• Uploaded by bsharf

• Amaryllis (Hippeastrum 'Quito')
• Uploaded by bsharf

Wow, are those beautiful! I can see why you went to such pains to get one that would bloom for you this year. Since it is a cybister, do you think it would cross with h. papillio?

Beautiful bloom Jack and Barbara!

You were asking if cybisters and H papillae could be crossed. According to Read's "Hippeastrum" book, cybisters are a fairly recent group of hybrids (only available after 2002), from the American breeder Fred Meyers. He died in 1999 but his family has continued the breeding operation. As a group, the cybisters are exotic, with unique colors, shapes and even growth habits out of very small bulbs. I have no idea if you would get fertile seeds out of the cross of a particular cybister hybrid and H. papillio.

I had to really dig on the Internet to find out ploidy and fertility of different amaryllis. I was pretty sure one source said that h. Papillio crossed with a cybister they had, but I would need to double check. I thought I would ask you first, though, because you know a lot about amaryllis.

I may have come across the the reference that you mentioned about papillio crossed with a cybister. It is on the emaryllis.com website in the photo library for the listing "Opal Star", also sold as "Cherry Crush", which is reported to be a offspring of a cross between papillio and a cybister . Opal Star is probably my all time favorite cultivar for naturalizing in a Southern garden. Blooms reliably, isn't overly fussy in its requirements, and produces lot of offshoots each year. I was surprised to learn about this cultivar's background.

bsharf said:I may have come across the the reference that you mentioned about papillio crossed with a cybister. It is on the emaryllis.com website in the photo library for the listing "Opal Star", also sold as "Cherry Crush", which is reported to be a offspring of a cross between papillio and a cybister . Opal Star is probably my all time favorite cultivar for naturalizing in a Southern garden. Blooms reliably, isn't overly fussy in its requirements, and produces lot of offshoots each year. I was surprised to learn about this cultivar's background.

I think you might have found it! I know I was on the amaryllis.com website, so it's very likely.

'Hercules' just opened today! A special new year's gift for me.



This is a new one for me this year. the color reminds me a lot of 'Double Dream', only in a single rather than a double!