Hi , I grow around 70 different collected and bred cultivars of Amaryllis belladonna and its hybrids. The optimum flowering in Amaryllis occurs if the bulbs experience are able to grow strongly during autumn and winter followed by dry climatic conditions from mid Spring to mid Summer - broken by a summer rainstorm or heavy watering during the 2nd to 3 month of Summer. If sufficient rainfall doesnt fall at the close of summer the bulbs wont flower - or flower poorly that season. It is also clear from my cultural experiments that planting a bulb too deep results in lots of pups but a distinct lack of flowers. Some varieties and particualry those with some hybrid genes grow and flower best with up to half of the bulb exposed to direct sunlight. I have found that all Amaryllis in common wont flower if there is too much shade - and while it is hard to qualify the exact amount of sunlight needed in the crucial flower bud forming period, I get the best flowering from Amaryllis varieties that are exposed to direct sunlight for most of the day. It is also likely that if the bulb mass is cramped and covered with large amounts of Amaryllis leaf from these bulbs, then the area around the bulbs remains cooler and shader - impeding flower initiation. There are early and late flowered varieties, the most common species forms that tend to be light pink to medium pink coloured are the earliest to flower and the multi flowering darker rose to red coloured forms with 30 to 40 flowers per umbel are the last to flower usually around the last month of summer - with up to two months of separation between the early and late varieties. Cheers Jim Lykos Blue Mountains Australia