The MGS Forum

Plants for mediterranean gardens => Bulbs (including other geophytes with corms, tubers, rhizomes etc) => Topic started by: fragman on September 15, 2011, 02:11:59 PM

Title: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: fragman on September 15, 2011, 02:11:59 PM
At last summer is ending and the first autumnal bulbs bloom. At the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens Amaryllis is in peak blooming at the moment. Its not the most reliable bulb, but if you plant lots of them, at least some will bloom every year.
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Fleur Pavlidis on September 15, 2011, 03:01:13 PM
Sally Razelou at the MGS garden has been very successful propagating belladonnas from the bulbils for our plant exchanges, although they take a long while to get to blooming size. Her mistake, she says, has been to plant the flowering bulbs in dappled shade. The flower heads search for the sun so the stalks grow almost horizontally and look nothing as attractive as these in the Jerusalem Botanic Garden.
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: fragman on September 15, 2011, 03:23:28 PM
very true, as u can see in the picture our plants grow in full sun
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: MikeHardman on September 15, 2011, 03:39:32 PM
Very nice Ori.
I've long fancied some of those, since seeing them in California many years ago.
And what's that I see on the ground? It looks like organic mulch. I'd be interested to know what the material is and if it is there for a specific purpose (perhaps plants that are not evident at the moment).
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: fragman on September 15, 2011, 03:44:36 PM
indeed mulch, this is tree-mix mulch provided to the garden by the monucipality. Sometime problematic - dirty and with Ulmus seeds...
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: John on September 24, 2011, 11:20:13 PM
I took this picture as it was going dark today of xAmacrinum howardii.
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: anita on October 22, 2011, 04:18:13 AM
John,
What are the distinguishing characters of Amarcrinum? I have been collecting various Amaryllis belladonna cultivars by asking for bulbs from old gardens and have gradually been accumulating a collection of varying shades. One particular clone that I got from a woman who collected them from her daughter's farm in Victoria has much taller flower scapes than the other plants and I have noticed that unlike all the other bulbs tends to have a much taller "stem" than the more usual Amaryllis bulbs which tend to throw the leaves out from the top of the bulb. These particular clones have a much more upright growth habit. They set seed quite freely however and strangely the seeds often start to sprout while still attached to the plant. Anita
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: John on October 22, 2011, 07:52:15 AM
I would say that the bulb has something of a neck to it above ground and the leaves are more untidy with a distinct pointed tip. Also the flowers don't look as refined a shape as straight Amaryllis belladonna.
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: oron peri on October 22, 2011, 06:18:05 PM

What are the distinguishing characters of Amarcrinum?

Anita,
The  common x amaricrinum in commerece has strong chrateristics of the Crinum, therefor it blooms while having developed leaves.
Amarylis belladona blooms without leaves.
amaricrinum has much wider leaf base and infact more arching and pointed as John mentioned., also the color of the leafe is different, darker for Amarylis.
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Alevin on October 22, 2011, 06:54:14 PM
... Her mistake, she says, has been to plant the flowering bulbs in dappled shade. The flower heads search for the sun so the stalks grow almost horizontally and look nothing as attractive as these in the Jerusalem Botanic Garden.

How strange! we have literally hundreds of them, many in dappled shade, and they do grow very straight.
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: anita on March 31, 2012, 03:54:25 AM
Haven’t had time to post much recently but thought people might be interested in some pics of the Amaryllis belladonna clones I have been collecting.
Amaryllis, often called Easter Lilies in Australia as they flower in autumn, just before Easter in the Southern Hemisphere, grow well in South Eastern Australia. There don’t seem to be many named varieties around but if you wander around the older suburbs and in rural regions you can spot dozens of different kinds. Varying in colour, shape, size of infloresces and flowering time.
I started with three different old clones that were already in the garden of the late 1800s home we bought 10 years ago and now have 6 pink varieties and 2 different whites. I’ve bought two but I’ve got most of them by knocking on doors in suburbs within proximity of where I live.
I suspect there are dozens of clones in Australia because during colonisation ships used to come to Australia from the UK via South Africa and I’ve heard that these bulbs were picked up on the way. They will also grow from seed and while they are not weedy enough seeds grow to provide variations in colour.
Collecting these plants is a rather slow business as they loathe being moved. I’ve found that they generally take three years to flower after being moved.
We seem to get enough sun here in Southern Australia that they will grow in full sun or even part shade and I have ‘experimented” with growing some under deciduous trees and found that they will flower quite happily in the shade so long as the bulbs get plenty of sun while in active growth.
I’ve found that regardless of the weather patterns the bulbs are very consistent in flowering times, regardless of rainfall events.
I’ve put together a list of the clones and their flowering times and descriptions as I thought it would be useful information.
I strongly suspect the smaller growing plants are the actual species and the larger clones I have are various hybrids but all are fertile, so it just confuses me.
A. belladonna pink 1 was one of the clones that was in the garden when we moved in. It is always the first to flower, showing above ground in the second week, of January. This picture was taken on Jan 21. It’s a very soft pink, with usually about half a dozen flowers to an inflorescence, which is usually pretty one-sided. It’s relatively low growing usually about 50 cm high or so.
A. belladonna deep pink 2, is one of the few I’ve bought… it is supposed to be a multiflora hybrid, which I understand involve crosses with brunsvigia backcrossed to Amaryllis. It is always the second clone to flower. February 14 this year, three weeks later than the first clone. This time gap is consistent between the cultivars each year. It is much taller, well over a metre, has many more flowers in each umbel, 10 to 12 and tends to have flowers radially distributed. It is the deepest pink I have and about the deepest pink I have seen apart from the ones that Fermi has shown on this and the SRGC forum.
A. belladonna pink 3, flowers around the same time as deep pink 2 (photographed on February 18). I got this one at a “car boot” sale, the woman who sold it to me said there were hundreds on the farm of her daughter in Victoria. I bought the bulbs dormant but thought them worth trying because they are enormous, about the size of a two year old’s head. I suspect they are also an old brunsvigia hybrid.. they start out a very pale pink and darken with age but retain attractive venation through the flower. The flowers are much larger than either of the previous pinks and they would be close to 1.3 m tall. There are many more flowers to a head than pink 1 but they do tend to face in the one direction. They also have a quite different foliage habit to the other bulbs, they almost fountain out of the top of the bulb rather than flopping. I thought they might have been a Crinum hybrid because of the variation in the foliage, and the similarity in this “fountaining” habit to crinum. But Rafa suggested that the Crinum hybrids bloomed while the leaves were present and this is definitely blooms while the leaves are still summer dormant… but it is quite different in growth habit from the other two clones and tends to produce fewer but larger seeds which have a very strong tendency to start growing leaf shoots while still encased in the seed pod. This is only the second year the three bulbs I bought have flowered. As mentioned before these bulbs loathe being moved so it was a two year wait from time of purchase to flowering. They seem to be offsetting quite quickly with daughter bulbs emerging in the couple of years I’ve had them. However on both occasions it has flowered a few days later than the deep pink. I haven’t mentioned before but all the amaryllis grow amazingly quickly. I scan the ground daily when these bulbs are due up and I can still miss a day and they are 14 to 15 cm high.
A. Belladonna pink 4. This is another smaller (50cm) and very pale pink clone. It flowers several weeks later than pink 1 every year. This was photographed on February 18. The flowers again tend to all be held to one side of the umbel. The camera can’t show it but this is a paler pink than var pink 1.
A. Belladonna pink 5 Again a smaller variety and one that was in the garden of the house when we bought it.. it is always the last to flower. This year starting to bloom on February 29 with plants remaining in bloom well into March. Although it looks in most ways similar to cultivar one.. these clumps which are within two feet of pink 1 always flower 6 weeks later.A. Belladonna pink 6. This clone was saved from an old home nearby that was undergoing demolition..  I saw the bulldozers parked outside one afternoon and jumped the fence to dig some bulbs that night… The bulbs were dormant but I had watched them bloom in the abandoned garden for a few seasons and I couldn’t bear to think of them being bulldozed. I searched by torchlight and got two bucketfuls and now wish I’d saved more… dozens perhaps hundreds of others growing in that garden went for landfill… it just makes me feel sick to think of all the lovely plants in that garden that were just bulldozed when they could have been rescued and rehomed. (Old camellias and many, many snowflakes and jonquils) This is another tall (120cm) but pale pink variety. It looks similar to pink 3, but remains pale while the other’s colour intensifies. There are close to a dozen flowers in each umbel. For some reason this one has flowered in its first year after moving – perhaps because it’s grateful for being rescued!! It’s photo was taken on February 9, so it may be one of the earlier flowering varieties. I’m not sure yet as I’ve had it only one year. This variety sets a lot of large seed. See pic. Again from the size of the bulbs and the height of the stems, I suspect this is a hybrid.

A. belladonna White 1. Was rescued from the same garden as pink 6… This is such a stunning plant the thought of all its clones being dumped makes me rage for the waste! It is the first year I’ve had this in flower.. again they’ve flowered the first year in the garden which is so unusual for these bulbs.. The photo was taken on February 18. This again is about 1.2 metres tall. The inflorescence is large and the individual flowers are large. They are a particularly beautiful creamy white with a hint of green in the throat, which enhances the white. The flowers are distributed radially around the stem… they are quite stunning and I’m so glad I managed to save these. I wish I had saved more. These are planted in the back garden and on the late summer evenings they seemed to float in the garden as the stems are invisible at twilight. Like all the other varieties they are fragrant. Next year I’ll make notes on the fragrance of the different cultivars. I only really started to note the differences in fragrance this year.
A. Belladonna White 2. This variety I purchased as Hathor, sometimes I’ve seen it spelled Haythor. Hathor/Haythor is supposed to be a multiflora hybrid (Amaryllisxbrunsvigia backcrossed to Amaryllis). It is not as tall as White 1, being just under a metre. It has about a dozen flowers to the infloresce and they all have a lovely golden throat. This cultivar flowered on February 25. It somehow looks more frilled or ruched in a group than the preceding white which has a very clean elegant look. Both whites are lovely in their own ways.
I hope others find my observations interesting.
I’ve now got to screw up my courage to knock on a stranger’s door to ask for another plant… they’ve got an amaryllis in the garden that comes up white but then rapidly changes to pink, as the flowers are opening over successive days there’s a combination of white and pink in each flower head. I suspect it’s the old cultivar I’ve read about called Appleblossom because of this striking combination of white and pink. The house went up for sale last week and I’m concerned the new owners will call in landscapers for an overhaul, not understanding what old treasures are in the garden.

Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Umbrian on March 31, 2012, 06:44:01 AM
Fascinating Anita, keep up the good work and try to rescue Appleblossom? should the need arise. :)
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: David Bracey on March 31, 2012, 09:16:33 PM
A really terrific story.
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: MikeHardman on April 03, 2012, 08:33:32 PM
Anita - most excellent work, posting and photos - thank you
Title: Amaryllis belladonna bulbs to buy
Post by: jeroen55 on September 27, 2012, 10:26:56 PM
hello everyone,

does anyone come across in portugal to buy Amaryllis belladonna bulbs...seen every where by portugese houses?but havent seen any where to buy?

love to have some in my garden...

thank you
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna bulbs to buy
Post by: Fleur Pavlidis on September 29, 2012, 05:53:48 PM
Portuguese are anything like the Greeks then they'll never actually buy something like amaryllis but will get it from a friend who's breaking up a clump. If you want to join in, be fulsome in your praise of the desired plant, make sure you have a little collection of spare plants to offer in exchange, and you may be lucky. Or you can try mail order!
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna bulbs to buy
Post by: Frits.kp on December 11, 2012, 09:52:57 PM
There were a number of garden centres around Faro on the N125 that all sold pots full of the bulbs you require
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna bulbs to buy
Post by: jeroen55 on December 15, 2012, 12:51:56 PM
Thank you very much for information..
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna bulbs to buy
Post by: JTh on December 15, 2012, 01:31:16 PM
Fleur, I bought some bulbs when I was in Athens in October, now I have to find out how to bring them to Greece next spring.
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Fermi on March 15, 2013, 05:48:37 AM
Anita,
did you get a bulb of the "Appleblossom"?

Here are some of the ones we grow:
"cerise"
"mid pink"
"pale pink"
"white"
This year they didn't start till March.
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: John on March 15, 2013, 08:17:49 AM
Here in London these bulbs are often virused. If they are sold as selected clones this is almost inevitable. It doesn't kill them but can look unsightly. Is this the same in other parts of the world?
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Trevor Australis on March 15, 2013, 10:19:16 PM
No, it is not usual for Amaryllis to be virused in Australia. Well none of mine are and most of them have been collected from farms in South Australia and Victoria. I also have a beautiful bulb called an Amarygia which is a hybrid between Amaryllis and Brunsvigia, and also several Amarines + Amaryllis x Nerine. William Martin of 'Wigandia' at Mt Noorat in Vic has collected many variations of Amaryllis from Western Districts properties and Robyn Brader of Allan's Flat nr Yackendandah in NE Vic has made similar collections in that long settled area.

Many Amarylids have seeds that begin to sprout before they fall. This is called 'recalcitrant'. If you buy seeds from South Africa they are always labelled with this term in very large lettering on the customs declaration, along with a packing slip that explains the term and that the things are still seeds and not plants - which would have to be gassed with bromine to get through the plant quarantine service.
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: anita on March 17, 2013, 01:42:32 AM
Anita,
did you get a bulb of the "Appleblossom"?
cheers
fermi
Embarrassed to say I just haven't been game to go and doorknock to ask for a bulb and I can't bring myself to just "liberate" one from the street!
I have had Amaryllis in bloom here (Adelaide plains) since January 16.. 6 days after we got a shower of about 10mm. This was the early blooming tall pink strain. We have other strains still blooming now although my cerise pink bulbs have not flowered as yet.
I'm also coming to the opinion that in our hot mediterranean climate Amaryllis belladonna need not be grown in sun to flower. The heat alone seems to do the trick. I first noticed this tendency when bulbs that had become overgrown by shrubs continued to flower. Now a row I've planted in full shade are blooming (it took about two years for the bulbs to stop grumping after being moved). The attached photo of some of the bulbs in bloom in full shade demonstrates my case.
Anita
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: JAK on March 26, 2013, 03:29:23 PM
My area is currently full of all shades of pink wherever there is evidence of early settled gardens. I love foraging for more shades and was delighted to find Anita's photos so I will now have something to aspire to. The bulbs I have found growing in dappled light are quite straight as are the ones in full sun. Most of these wild ones have their necks exposed. Transplanted at home they do tend to sulk but I am beginning to reap the rewards and have quite a few out this year including a pure white of which I have collected quite a few and hope one day to have a real show. Perhaps I'm dreaming but then the chase is half the fun.
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Fermi on March 09, 2014, 02:20:06 PM
It's the start of the Belladonna Season here again!

Seedlings in bloom
Picottee type
Stripey
Cerise

cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Alisdair on March 09, 2014, 05:07:52 PM
That picotee is a delicate colour, Fermi! A nice subtle change from the brighter pinks.
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Fermi on March 15, 2014, 02:26:55 PM
Alisdair,
the variability amongst seedlings is only slight so I was pleased to see this one.
I think its parent is one with very dark edges to an almost white petal.
The white ones have now started,
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Fermi on March 16, 2014, 01:46:34 AM

I think its parent is one with very dark edges to an almost white petal.

Hmm, another episode of my memory "gilding the lily", so to speak!
This is what I think is that parent, which can have very deep pink edges,
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Trevor Australis on March 16, 2014, 08:07:27 AM
I went out y/day on a driving tour of the Southern Vales to Willunga via McLaren Flat, McLaren Vale (Note: wine-lovers = the fantastic Southern Vales), Kuitpo Forest, Kuitpo Valley, Meadows, Echunga, Hahndorf and back home again to Crafers. Belladonna's everywhere BUT NOT IN MY GARDEN! What am I not doing? Open situations, no Summer watering, a little food from time to time but only a big fat nothing. The bulb clumps are about 20-30 yrs established. So much for hardy traditional plants.
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Fermi on March 23, 2014, 05:03:11 AM
Hi Trevor,
they usually take a little while to flower after transplanting, but not as long as 20 years :o
We have clumps that haven't flowered which I presume is due to being overshadowed or getting too much competition from  gum trees. The ones in the open or under the edges of deciduous trees seem to be pretty reliable.
Are yours perhaps too deeply planted? They seem to like sitting almost out of the ground like some nerines.
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Trevor Australis on March 23, 2014, 10:04:28 PM
I'm flummoxed by whatever it is I'm not doing. Just y/day out again and found a shady railway cutting overgrown with thick, deep ivy and under pine trees - and dozens of bright pink Aunt Eliza's (= Belladonna's). I just can't figure it out. I'm about to throw the book at Brunsvigia josephinae as she, too, is a challenge for me. I'm going to feed her with low nitrogen, high potassium and high phosphorus fertiliser ie tomato food and see if that makes any difference in the next few years. I've found a Melbourne based gardener who grow the Emperor's wife and get it to flower every year: tub grown and fed, and I expect watered judiciously. Mine just have to survive on what falls as rain - very infrequent at this time of year. Just maybe I've placed too much trust in the old beliefs about leaving these Sth African bulbs 'strictly' alone, un-disturbed, un-watered and un-fed?
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Fermi on April 04, 2014, 08:18:55 AM
Trevor,
this is what we have as Brunsvigia josephinae but I've been told it's a hybrid,
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Fermi on February 11, 2015, 08:18:25 AM
The clump of cerise Amaryllis belladonna are in flower earlier than last year but the others are lagging behind,
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Fermi on February 09, 2018, 08:42:23 AM
The Belladonna Lily season seems to be a bit earlier this year than last  :)
This clump has flowered for the first time since we moved here because they they were planted where they got overgrown by a Cypress Hedge. The Hedge was taken out last year and after 14 or 15 months the Amaryllis belladonna "seedlings" have come into bloom!
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Fermi on February 17, 2018, 02:39:58 PM
A new flower today - sprung from a fallen seed it has a largish flower-head of pale pink flowers.
In the first pic you can see it has developed outside the bed where its parent is growing,
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Fermi on March 01, 2018, 11:19:49 AM
More seedlings flowering for the first time
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Fermi on March 31, 2018, 09:58:52 AM
This Amaryllis belladonna came as seed from a friend back in the 1980s
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Amaryllis belladonna
Post by: Fermi on March 18, 2023, 04:32:47 AM
The Belladonna lilies are at their peak in our garden.
1) in bud
2)  White variety
3)  Cerise/pink form
4)  Clear pink
5)  Pale pink seedlings
6)  Close up of pale pink seedlings
7)  mixed pink seedlings
8 - 10)  potted Belladonna
cheers
fermi