Growing from seed versus importing bulbs from another hemisphere

Nan Sterman via pbs pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
Thu, 01 Jan 2026 18:23:33 PST
Mary I am happy to send you Scadoxus seeds when they are ripe - from California.  Message me if you are interested. 

> On Jan 1, 2026, at 4:56 PM, Mary Gorton via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote:
> 
> I recently received Scadoxus seeds from Silverhill that had begun to germinate.  They were in a brown paper envelope so customs could not see that they were germinating.  I received them fine.  On the other hand, I received some from England that were in a transparent envelope that had begun to germinate and customs could see them and they were confiscated for being plants.
> Mary Gorton    Wilmington, Delaware
> 
>    On Sunday, December 28, 2025 at 09:12:00 PM EST, Mary Sue Ittner via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote:   
> 
> I once wrote an article for Bulbs summarizing information people's 
> experiences for dealing with bulbs ordered from another hemisphere. You 
> can find it here:
> https://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/…
> on Page 35. After reading this thread and reflecting on my experience of 
> growing bulbs from another hemisphere, I found that bulbs were much more 
> likely to survive than corms. Since a lot of corms can flower from seed 
> in a few years if happy in your conditions, that would seem a better 
> choice. When plants arrived made a big difference for me. I lost almost 
> all of what I once ordered within a year or two when it arrived in late 
> spring. And I don't think there was an advantage in that case to living 
> where summers rarely are hot. After that I concluded it was better for 
> me to either grow from seed or purchase bulbs from someone who grew them 
> in my country so they would be used to growing at the right time.
> 
> On another note, there are some of us who would be willing to share 
> seeds that need to be planted immediately if PBS could find someone who 
> would be willing to take on the job of distributing them in a timely 
> fashion. Since so many of the South African Amaryllids flower in the 
> fall and seed set is late fall to winter,  it would probably be best for 
> a volunteer to live where it doesn't get really cold when these seeds 
> are ready to plant. Lee mentioned that Silverhill Seeds in the past used 
> to let people know when recalcitrant seeds were available. With the mail 
> delays I expect that is no longer possible.
> 
> Mary Sue
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