I am fairly certain that in the southern hemisphere,since the seasons are different by the calendar,that Hippeastrum follow the length of day and temperature there.My Hippeastrum grow all year,except for the short rest period in which they do little, but sit there.They do have growth spurts,but may produce new leaves at other times,besides their rest period.They occasionally lose leaves at all times of the year. I am in the Tampa bay area of Florida. Del--- On Sun, 12/2/12, J.E. Shields <jshields@indy.net> wrote: From: J.E. Shields <jshields@indy.net> Subject: Re: [pbs] dormancy; was :Re: Hippeastrum papilio To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Date: Sunday, December 2, 2012, 6:17 PM Hi Jim, "Dormant" is not to be confused with "deciduous." "Dormant" is a physiological state, in which many processes present in the actively growing plant are shut down to low levels, while other processes not usual during active growth are ramped up. "Deciduous" merely refers to the absence of green leaves. Daylily growers seem to have a particularly hard time with this distinction. Jim Shields, daylily grower At 09:17 AM 12/2/2012 -0800, you wrote: >Many, probably most, North Temperate bulbs produce their foliage in one >spurt of growth in late winter or early spring. They spend the rest of the >growing season with those same leaves and do not continually produce new >foliage. Yet I've never heard anyone call that condition dormancy. > >Why are people saying Hippeastrum papilio is dormant during a period when >it has fully functional leaves? > >Jim McKenney ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Lat. 40° 02.8' N, Long. 086° 06.6' W