or if your getting rid of it throw it my way

Don't throw it away; that's for sure!

Critter: Great Tip! Oh my, I never knew anyone would threw them away! Some varieties are grown as landscape perennials down here!

That is a beauty in your photo!

I've kept them over many times. I had the greatest success one year when it planted them among some roses when it was warm enough here and they received regular deep watering and fertilizer all summer. They got morning sun. When I dug them in the fall they were huge. I let them rest 2-3 months and they bloomed really well,

Beautiful picture, and here they go straight in the ground outside and will bloom again and again!

They're such beauties that a lot of folks who aren't generally "into" plants will pick them up... and most have no idea they can be grown on for next year.

They're really tough plants, too. After a couple of years of neglect, mine got planted out in the garden bed again last summer, where they fattened up, so I'm getting blooms from some I haven't seen for a while.

'Chico' here not only bloomed this year but set a new personal record for height, 40 inches from the top of the bulb to the top of the bloom!

That is very pretty Jill ~~~ stunningly so. I hope you have put that photo in the database.

Do you like how I cleverly used my jacket as a backdrop so the bloom wouldn't get washed out by backlighting? ROFL I have a lot of catching up do to with regard to database photos... laptop is in the shop, and that cuts down on my computer time!

Actually it worked! I didn't recognize it as your jacket. Didn't know what it was really. The bloom is so eye catching that you don't pay any attention to the background.

Yes, keep them to cheer you up in January!

This post came by as a random idea. I wanted to add that if you live in a frost free areas they are also great to just put in the ground.

We have frost up here & some freezes too but not extreme & everyone just puts them in the ground & they stay year round & do great so even if you're in a frost area they can be put in ground & left. It all just depends on how cold it gets where you are.

You just posted that to make me all green with envy as the nights get chilly here... ;-)

Trade ya some of that chilliness Jill. Yesterday was 89. I'm ready for fall to set in & stop being hit or miss.