lblanchard | Hippeastrum mandonii * bounce * bounce * bounce *

Not my actual plant but this is what all the fuss is about

I paid cash money for two immature H. mandonii more than seven years ago -- spring of 2012, to be precise. A couple years later, the bulbs, still immature, rotted -- but by then they had thrown off some offsets that were healthy, so I potted them up.

More years passed and I have lately been casting a wrathful eye on these plants. They're a species hippeastrum and famously fickle in the bloom department. I was on the fence about whether I should deaccession them now or give them one more year.

I guess one of them heard me.

Hippastrum mandonii, such a tease...

I understand that these are seed-grown, which may mean that they are self-fertile. Or they may not be. I also read dark mutterings that some of the bulbs from this grower turn out to not look like a proper mandonii. Certainly this bud has the proper coloration -- whether it has the shape remains to be seen.

This was going to be the year, I told myself, that I didn't do any propagation. Pffffft. There will be an attempt at selfing and some saving of pollen to try with H. striatum when it blooms next, and also on the reliable old Hippeastrum 2006-2 that appears to be fertile with EVERYTHING.

All the more reason to be ruthless with the remaining juveniles etc. I need room for new precious babies.