Dear PBSers, Although I cannot grow any Amaryllis here ( ok I bloomed one bulb once), they are often confused with the other Naked Ladies, Lycoris squamigera. Here in Kansas City we have had extreme heat and continuing "Extreme Drought” (official designation) and emergence of flowering stems has been late, fewer and shorter than usual. In normal years a heavy late summer rain will initiate lots of bloom stalks on L. squamigera and the other species I grow. Not nearly so this year. They are struggling and some have only managed stalks to 8 or 9 inches instead of the usual 30 inches. Over all I’d estimated fewer than half of bulbs have or will bloom. Next year ? Or will it just be hotter and drier ? Jim W. On Aug 17, 2018, at 1:34 PM, Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org> wrote: On a drive yesterday up the Mendocino Coast, California, we saw so many in flower you'd think they were native. In my shady garden where I have a lot planted with not many flowering each year, one spike got stepped on so it is gone and one other has appeared, but the flowers have not opened. But most where I live have been flowering for some time. If they decide to flower in my garden it is always much later than the ones growing in the sunshine. Besides water I think good light is crucial. Many of those growing along the roadside or where people have planted them do not get summer water, but some may get extra runoff from roads when it is raining and we get more rain than Andrew does in Southern California although this year was the lowest amount in the 29 years we have lived on the coast. It was more evenly distributed than the year before and that helped I am sure. Mary Sue Dr. James Waddick 8871 NW Brostrom Rd Kansas City, MO 64152-2711 USA Phone 816-746-1949 _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…