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Quote from: Kaz305 on June 28, 2025, 05:37:21 AMHi Mike

I'm in the UK, can't see thips and overwatering is unlikely. At least I have a starting point though and appreciate the input. The odd things is the online information said plant out in spring which is when I planted them out.

Your bulbs are perfectly healthy and fine. What was wrong was the information to plant them in spring. Babiana stricta is a classic winter growing bulb which should be started in autumn. Don't worry. Keep watering lightly as long as there are still green leaves but stop watering completely when everything has dried. Keep the pot dry and away from mice during summer and resume watering in September or October, little so until new leaves appear. Once growing do not allow to dry out and fertilize. Depending on bulb size they will flower in spring and then the dying down will start again. The longer you manage to keep the foliage green the bigger the bulbs will become.
Hope that helps 

Hello Jane,

I have ordered bulbs from these two companies in the past. Shipping to Portugal was no problem, so Spain should be okay as well.

order.eurobulb.nl.    And

fluwel.com

I have other addresses for the more specialized rarer bulbs

Hope that helps

Hello Bern,
Looking at your picture I would say it does indeed not show a flower but a flower bud. To me it looks like Carlina except that the leaves look mottled. Spider mite? Virus?
Carlina flowers in late summer in habitat so your green ,,flower" may well develop into a proper flower.
I wonder why you kept it indoors under lights. It is an alpine plant which might spend a long time under snow in winter. You may have disturbed its growth pattern by keeping it lit and not dormant.
It speaks for your gardening skills that you managed to grow this plant to flowering size in a relatively small pot, taking into account that it would normally have a 3 feet long tap root.....
I don't seem to be able to paste links into this message, who can help?
There is a very good picture on Alamy of the stemless flower. I still think that you have what you ordered. The stemless form does really have a large flower at soil level.

Hello Bern,
Congratulations for getting this alpine plant to flower in your climate. What you have there is exactly what you ordered from the seed company. Carlina acaulis var. caulescens does not have ground hugging flowers, the ,,caulescens" bit in the name means stem forming. 
The ground hugging flowers are produced by Carlina acaulis var. acaulis. Acaulis means stemless. It is not biennial but a tough perennial. The flowers open and close depending on rain or dry weather, hence one of the German names ,,weather thistle". You could plant it in your garden, it is bone hardy but might fare better in a cold frosty winter. The stemless one is a very showy plant.
Thank you for sharing 

Hello Jim,

Quite honestly, I would not do it. But if you are desperate.....
What I would do in this case: very carefully dig beside the offset, best with bare hands in order to check if the offset has its own roots. If it does not or if you are not sure I would leave it on the mother plant. If the offset has its own roots you could cut the junction very carefully with a sharp knife in order not to injure one of the two bulbs and in order not to severe the roots. Then disentangle the roots of the offset to be able to lift it with as much intact roots as possible and replant immediately.
You could also dig up the whole lot but that would cause much root disturbance.
Good luck!

Hello Martin,
Could it be that another seed germinated in the pot where you planted the Boophone seed which may not have germinated?
For a Crinum I would miss the usual long neck. Could it be Albuca?
Finally you will have to wait for more development and maybe a flower to be sure what you have there.

Hello Arnold,

To me it looks more like a central bacterial rot and not narcissus fly. I have a lot of damage due to Narcissus fly but so far Crinum was never attacked. But I have had central rot. For Narcissus fly you could try to carefully poke into the black area with a thin piece of wire or an open paper clip. Sometimes you can pull out the larva this way. 
I would plant the damaged bulb back into a pot with the cut off surface exposed for better control and hope that it will produce offsets.

There is not much to add,
Leigh sent a notice to the EU recipients saying that the winter growing bulbs must be planted urgently.
Remember that in the southern hemisphere they would have already started to grow so they are delayed. If you would keep them in paper bags until autumn in the northern hemisphere most would be dead. Depending what species they are, especially the irids do not tolerate an overly long dormancy.
As heat stops winter growing bulbs it is important to keep the potted bulbs as cool as possible.

Happy growing 

Some Aroids are flowering in the garden right now:

Helicodiceros muscivorum: flowers are impressive but short lived. They do not smell as badly as I had thought 

Dracunculus canariensis in the open ground in my shade garden 

Zantedeschia aethiopica ,,Pink Lady" the pink tinge is most pronounced on the bud and will fade as the flower ages 

Dracunculus vulgaris. Impressive flower, again, not as smelly as anticipated.

Zantedeschia aethiopica ,,Glencoe" one of the best named varieties 

Quote from: Zxct56y on May 05, 2025, 05:47:59 PMI received the bulbs but here's the thing it came in a pot with full grown leaves!
So i have to change my tactics now

What tactic do you want to change? Receiving bulbs in a pot with fully grown leaves is about the best that can happen to you. There is no root disturbance (unless you do it yourself) Just leave them in their pots, keep them well watered as long as the leaves are still green in a bright, cool frost free place. Give them some fertilizer rich in potassium. Bulbs at the end of the growing cycle do benefit from fertilizing. Once the leaves turn yellow which will happen as soon as the weather warms up keep the pot out of summer rain,  keep it warm and dry as said before. How big is the pot? probably fairly small to save postage. Once dormant you can then transplant the bulbs without undoing the root ball, without root disturbance into the said bigger pot

Quote from: Zxct56y on May 04, 2025, 11:48:42 AMI read that Amaryllis Belladonna dosen't do very well in the Eastern US and Southern Canada (Quebec Ontario) because of the summer rains and wet conditions.

What they don't like is moisture, humidity and hot temperatures at the same time. That's why they are not happy in the open ground on the US east coast. Probably getting more unhappy the further south you go.
So for you, growing them in pots you can move the pots out of the summer rain. They would tolerate very warm soil during dormancy as long as they are dry. 
For pot size it depends how many bulbs you want to plant into a pot. Let's say for three flowering size bulbs I would use a pot which is slightly deeper than wide of at least 10 liters, better 15 liters. (Sorry, I don't count in gallons)

Hello,

Amaryllis belladonna is a robust plant and it is surprising that it died on you twice. The fact that it is native from the southern hemisphere does not matter because bulbs purchased in the northern hemisphere have already adapted to the right hemisphere and don't need to be swapped to another hemisphere.
What does matter, though, is that they are winter growing and summer dormant. And what also matters is that they are not particularly happy growing in pots. They can be cultivated in pots and they will also flower but not as good as in the open ground. In Montreal you have no choice, though. They need large and deep pots as they have a strong root system that needs space. Plant them with the neck of the bulbs at the surface of the substrate. The substrate should be well draining, make sure the drainage holes in the pot are not blocked by the roots but they are not fussy with the substrate. Amaryllis belladonna is a greedy plant and needs a lot of fertilizer rich in potassium and phosphorus especially when grown in pots. They need plenty of water while growing, without stagnant water and should be kept on the dry and warm side during their summer dormancy. Amaryllis belladonna is one of the summer dormant bulbs which tolerates summer water, they grow very well in England. That's why I am surprised that they died. Unless they were waterlogged during dormancy.
Growing in pots I would not keep them brutally dry in summer especially if you use large terracotta pots but give them a small amount of water every four weeks or so. But do not leave the pots in pouring rain during dormancy. A good drench towards the end of August might stimulate flowering if the bulbs are big enough.
Try to buy dormant bulbs from reputable suppliers in summer and not in spring. Plant them as soon as you can, they hate root disturbance and need at least one growing season to settle in during which they are unlikely to flower.
In Montreal you would have to keep the growing bulbs frost free, cool and as bright as ever possible like in a bright frost free cold greenhouse. Lack of light is one reason for shy flowering and too much warmth during growth will cause premature dormancy.
Hope that helps 

Hello,
Here are some informations concerning the items I donated to the current EU BX:
Haemanthus albiflos seed should be sown as soon as possible, sow superficially and bury only half of the fleshy seeds. Keep evenly moist but not stagnant wet. There are different forms of the species: this seed comes from a fairly large and long leaved form with upright foliage. Originally from the collection of the late John Lavranos.

Gesneriads: plant the rhizomes as soon as possible. They start best with gentle bottom heat. They can be started in relatively small pots which would fit into a propagator. Do not overwater before they sprout but they must not dry out after starting. Gesneriads do not at all mind being transplanted during growth so you can pot them up into bigger pots once they have sprouted..  All offered are summer growing with dry winter dormancy. Some will go dormant fairly late in the season. Best stored dry in their pots in the substrate not cooler than at least 10°C, better 15°C.

Amorphophallus atroviridis: Each tuber produces only one leaf, but none if it flowers. Attractive foliage, best started with some gentle bottom heat. Propagates easily by offsets. The supplied tubers should produce a leaf and not a flower. Summer growing and dry winter dormancy

Cyrtanthus montanus bulbils: The mother plant has never flowered with me but produced many bulbils, I am not very successful with Cyrtanthus. Bulbils may take their time before they sprout a leaf. Evergreen.

Gladiolus dalenii 'Boone' According to various sources in the internet this is the frost hardiest form of this variable species. Named after a locality in the US state of North Carolina where it was found. I have not tested its hardiness. Personally I find the pale colours of the flowers less attractive than more intensely coloured forms, therefore I donated the entire lot. Summer growing, winter dormant.

Oxalis triangularis Red Leaf: Very easy plant, summer growing, winter dormant but can be almost evergreen as a houseplant. Best colouring of the leaves is achieved outdoors in full sun. hardy in mild winter climates but so far not invasive. Small white flowers add charm.

Solanum jamesii: Wild potato, vigorous grower, white typical potato flowers. Attractive in a large pot or hanging basket, shoots will trail. Produces lots of tubers and may well become invasive in the right conditions, so best kept confined in a pot. Solanum can be extremely toxic, so I would not eat the tubers....

Happy growing!
Uli

As promised, here are some pictures of different cultivars of Amaryllis belladonna in my garden.
I have come to the conclusion that soil quality does not really seem to matter much. The traditional local pale flowering form shows the same virus streaks like yours. I now think that it is virused. Same with Fred Meyer's White.
The other cultivars and the unnamed (and so far unflowered) seedlings seem to be unaffected. It is interesting how different the seedlings look like. Thank you for raising this topic, I was not aware of the virus in my plants.

If you have an issue with Narcissus not flowering and only producing leaves you may have Narcissus fly. Where in Portugal do you live? And at what elevation? My garden is near Monchique in the very south western corner of the Algarve at 350m elevation. I have planted a lot of Narcissus in the beginning only to find out that the ones with larger bulbs would either disappear completely or end up with a few thin leaves. The same applies to Habranthus, Hippeastrum and especially to Sprekelia. The smaller Narcissus like for example N. bulbocodium which are native here are not affected and interestingly the fairly large bulbs of the native N. papyraceus aren't either. There is a reason for being native.
Amaryllis belladonna and Nerine does not seem to be attacked by Narcissus flies (so far....)
I am not sure about the necessity for winter chill for Narcissus, it certainly applies to Central Asian tulips.
Commercial bulbs can always be infected with virus.....
In autumn I always have kilos of seed of Amaryllis belladonna and I would be more than happy to let you have it