Amaryllis and Callas

Okay, so mother nature decided to play a nasty trick on me and my bulbs...They thought it was all nice and safe to come out and play and then all of a sudden, we had a freeze. My question is since the foliage was damaged (it wasn't huge yet), am I out of luck for this year or is there a possibility that I could still see leaves and MAYBE some flowers? Should I cut off the damaged foliage or let it die back?

My daffodils and a couple of other things didn't even blink, but the Amaryllis and Callas are not happy.

Thanks.

Personally, I'd leave it in case of another freeze. The already damaged tips will take the frost and add some protection if left.

If it seems like they're interferring with further growth, then I'd remove the damage and listen to the forecast and add protection.

Better luck.
Robert.

Mine were hit too...This wasn't the first year they have been bit back.. I just leave them alone. They look kinda mushy right now but that will fall off and new growth will show..
They have always bloomed in the past couple of years by doing them this way..
Supposed to get cold again this weekend here in E. Texas so they will be hit again...
Ronda

S, they will be fine. My callas and amaryllis behaved exactly as yours, however, a couple of plants had buds, and once it has warmed up they keep opening and opening. This Royal Velvet was in bud when we had the freeze (I was worried that I was going to miss out) but look at it. Ain't it grand????????

Mama is very proud. I think I am going to name this my all-time fave for its color and height. There is another one in the background, can't remember what it is now, but it will soon open and I will soon be bragging, lol




This message was edited Feb 16, 2006 5:30 PM

Okay, so I will leave the mushy looking foliage for a while to offer some protection. Thanks everyone.
Vossner, now I have something else that I HAVE to have. I have St. Joseph's lily and one other that I can't remember the name of. I am really glad to hear that they should be okay since I haven't even gotten to see them bloom yet.

that St Joseph lily is fine! I look forward to seeing that bloom.

drool bucket full and 'gotta have it' list longer. That Royal Velvet is luscious!

That is beautiful, Vossner! I am so jealous you can grow those outside the way you have. I put one in the ground a couple of years ago and it came up and flowered last year, but with the freeze/thaw cycles it looked really ratty and so not something I want to experiment with again.

Voss- fabulous Royal Velvet! t.

Where did you get your St. Joseph's lily? I have been looking for one of those. Where I found them they want 23.00. I heard alot of people call them a pass around plant because they are so prolific.

But dog gone, haven't found any one to pass any around one. The house up the street 2 years ago have probably 50, I didn't know them well enough to ask for one. They sold the house and the new owners before you could blink dug them all up. I guess they threw them away.
I see leaves of 1 or 2 over there, but maybe one day I will go ask if I see them multiplying.

Vossner, Beautiful.

Blessings,
Sandy ^8^

Are there any amaryllis nurseries in the Houston area?

I ordered mine from EasyToGrowBulbs.com. I did pay a lot more for it than I normally do. That's one reason that I was so miffed when the freeze came. I think I paid $18 for mine, but I just fell in love with it. Hopefully it is as good in person as it is in the pictures. Since I just planted them, unfortunately, I won't have any to share for awhile.

Sheila

Shuggins,

They are just as beautiful. I went there and looked it up.
Amaryllis are on sale there also.

Thanks for the thought of sharing. I did understand you just got them.
Hope they are as prolific as they seem in my neighbors yard.

Blessings,
Sandy ^8^

My St Joseph I got in a trade.
Some at WM
Some on ebay from Countryside DL and Amaryllis (but not selling this year)
and B&B, some on sale, some regular. They were the best bulbs by far.

As far as Houston Nurseries carrying amaryllis, well I'll see a kit here and there but that's about it and I wouldn't consider them because overpriced and the varieties online much more interesting.

This message was edited Feb 19, 2006 1:20 PM

Vossner,

That is all I see. I was just curious as far as finding something local
to save shipping. I only buy the kits if they are marked down. And it figures we don't have a Houston nursery with amaryllis.

Thanks,

Latin name for "St. Joseph's Lily," please?
K. James

Botanical name is listed as 'Hippeastrum johnsonii' on the website where I bought mine.

Thank you promptly.

Wow- can anyone attest to the hardiness reported in Plantfiles?

Still, I would like to jump in the boat and ask anyone who has it for a start! (check my tradelist, if you will- I have other things, too.)
K. James

Just happened to flutter by this thread. I have the St. Joseph Lily that looks exactly like the pics in the PF database http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/56501/index.html
Sheila, (shuggins)
I am confused by the picture you show here with the beautiful solid dark trumpet. Why the difference? It too has the 'Hippeastrum johnsonii' name you referenced.
Sheila_FW

hmmm. discrepancy here. What I believe to be my St Joseph lily, has an amaryllis-looking flower, but the leaves are long and tubular, like plants in the onion family.

The ones in the plant file, have leaves that are strap like, more in line with other hippeastrums (amaryllis). I definitely will have to get this IDed again.

Shuggins,

I think your flowers will be fine. My callas come up every year and my one amaryllis planted outside has a flower bud on it now, and did so last year too - and our winters are much colder than yours. Do you have stems yet? Yours should be blooming by now!

My St. Joseph's Lily doesn't have stems and hasn't bloomed, but the leaves did recover. Maybe it doesn't always bloom the first year. I don't know. My Callas are blooming okay. Not quite as big as I had hoped, but still showing some blooms.

sheila the callas get bigger each year.

Is this the St. Josephs lily..

Yes, that is what mine are supposed to look like.

Thanks just wanted to make sure before I offered one to James.... I'd never heard them called St. Josephs Lily...

In _The AHS A to Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants_ "St. Joseph's Lily " refers to H. vittatum. Common names get applied to different plants, and that's why knowing the botanical name of the plant in question is important.

To illustrate this point further:

Here where I live, many people call what was once properly called Coleus by the common name "Joseph's Coat", which is more generally given most often to Amaranthus tricolor. (Now that the official name for coleus has been changed to Solenostemon scuttellariodes, coleus will now be it's new common name. That name is so tied to the plant, that I doubt it will not be that way forever more.)

And:

There are quite a few who call Gomphrena globosa (Globe Amaranth) by the name "Bachelor's Button's", whereas most know Centaurea cyanus by that name as well as knowing it as "Cornflower".

In each case, two very different plants are called by the same common name. In using the common name only, two people may think they're referring to the same plant and aren't.

There are many many examples of this confusion of common names. A botanical name refers to only one plant. When you know a plant's "scientific" name, you *know* which plant is meant.

Robert.

Robert, don't forget that Acalypha and Codiaeum could also be "Joseph's Coat!"

Down with common names!

Still, taxonomists must goof with our wee brains now and again as well.
Has anyone noticed that Trees that used to be legumes in Fabaceae (formerly Luguminaceae!) are now in Papillionaceae!? There was also some family-hopping between Agavaceae and Liliaceae if I'm not mistaken...

I now have Hip. x johnsonii (thanks to a trade with a thoughful DGer here) to test here in Colorado.
K.