Another new amaryllis bloom - Exotic Star

One of the bublets Maria gave me in 2008 is blooming for the first time in my care - the Exotic Star. So it roughly takes around 2.5 years from bublet to bloom.

I really like the bold color and especially the veins, very striking indeed.

A member from Garden Web mentioned that Exotic Star is a hybrid of Papillio, and it is difficult to pollinate it.

I'm going to cross ES with other blooms I'm having at the moment. Hope I might have some beautiful cross in the future.

Updates on the Chinese narcissus blooms

It's often said that Chinese narcissus blooms would last for around 5-10 days. But my bowl of blooms is still going strong now after 15 days of blooming.

I've been feeding the bulbs/plants with a water-soluble plant food which I use on my hoyas and some "precious" plants. I guess it has done the trick.

This morning I had to change them to a deeper container as many of the blooming stems are too tall and might drop.

I hope they can withhold until tomorrow or the next day, when we leave here for our home in Saigon.

Amaryllis blooms

I grow these plants from seeds given by friends on the Garden Web. They are more than 3 years old and had bloomed since last season. Unfortunately, except for 3 of them in pots, most had their scapes eaten by snails and slugs in the garden so I couldn't see their bloom.

This season, after seeing them losing all their leaves, I digged them up and potted them in containers to safe-guard them. Now two of them are blooming beautifully.

These were crosses made by Elizabeth and Cindee. When I moved them back to VN, I lost all their tags so now I don't know which is which.
Luckily, Elizabeth hinted of Charisma for the first plant and Cindee hinted Pink diamond for the second plant. Though not a complete parentage, I now know something about these beautiful bloom. I'll name them in Vietnamese basing on these hints.
I still have some more bulbs that will bloom soon. It's now Amaryllis season here.

My bowl of Chinese narcissus

Last Tet 2010, I tried to force some Chinese narcissus bulbs to bloom but I was unsuccessful since the weather in Saigon was not suitable for this kind of bulbs. Though I could see many bloom stalks from the bulbs, none of them mature enough to blossom.
This Tet, a friend from the North was kind enough to offer my two bulbs so that I could try again. I didn't have time to apply the "carving method", so I chose a safer way to force the bulbs in pebbles and water, without "carving". Also, this Tet, I left the bulbs in Tuysonvien where the weather is always cool.

My bulbs grew and produced the first bloom on February 9th. Although it was late for Lunar New Year day, I was extremely happy that I could now have Chinese narcissus blooming in my home.
I really love the little white blooms, with yellow centers, amid the green foliage.

The scent? Well, to tell the truth, its scent is not my favorite, though!

My garden in Spring

The dry season began about two months ago and plants in my garden are not growing or blooming well. But inspite of that, all the wild roses I have are blooming like crazy, especially the ones on the arbor.

Can't help but love it.

Happy New Year of the Cat

Vietnamese celebrate Lunar New Year on the same day as the Chinese do. But unlike Chinese, this year is the Year of the Cat to us.
The occasion lasts for 4 days in Vietnam, from the last day of the going-out year until the end of the third day of the coming-in year. During this time, Vietnamese would enjoy themselves however they can. It's the most important holiday season in our culture.
So, here's to wish all my blogger friends a very Happy New Year of the Cat.