Ebay experience

I need an amaryllis like I need a hole in my head. But.... I only have one Charisma and out of the varieties I have, it's my favorite. Plus, I'd like some St. Joseph's as well.

That said, I was puttering around on ebay and came across some amaryllis bulbs from the following sellers:
flowergirl199 ,
beautiful.gardens.usa,
freeone76,
woohampton,
classicpalms.

I've had really good luck with plant purchases from ebay. But with amaryllis bulbs, I had one let down and 1 good. So I'm here to see if anyone has any prior experience with any of these sellers.
I appreciate the info.

I have not purchased from the people you list. Also, my local nurseries are getting better and better each year so unless it's super cheap, I'm sticking to local purchases for amaryllis. These are from whom I've bought mailorder
easy to grow bulbs and their sister company, willowcreek gardens
van engelen
brent and beckys
american meadows
arghya gardens
royal colors

that's all that i can remember for now. hope this helps. I don't know that you can get St Josephs right now but I got mine in trades, never looked to buy it. This one seems more like a passalong plant. Maybe you can post in the trading forum next spring and get a bulb or two of St J.

If you do get from above people I hope you will share your experience with all of us who need amaryllises like we need holes in the head, lol

edited to add eflowergarden. bleek, how I forget you?! shame on me!

This message was edited Dec 15, 2008 4:46 PM

I keep saying I am not buying another one and then welll you all know. I know that Big Dipper Farm has St. Joseph's lilly http://www.bigdipperfarm.com/cgi-bin/searchstuff.pl?Botanical=Hippeastrum

This message was edited Dec 11, 2008 2:14 PM

This message was edited Dec 11, 2008 2:14 PM

well, who knew! I found johnsonii for $4.99. I have bought plants from this vendor and have been 100% pleased, not amaryllis, though. I'm sure they'll be just as good as his other items. He has banana shrub for under $4, I should get that

http://cgi.ebay.com/AMARYLLIS-Amazing-Large-Hardy-Johnsonii-SP_W0QQitemZ200216038850QQihZ010QQcategoryZ42353QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

edited to add: upon closer inspection, the johnsonii feature by wellspring100 does not look like the johnsonii I have and shown in the PF. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56501/
hopefully somebody will comment.

This message was edited Dec 11, 2008 3:41 PM

not my pic, but mine look just like the ones here:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56501/

big dipper has voodoo. and it doesn't look like my johnsonii

vossner, I like the one in your photo much better than the one in the ebay listing. That one doesn't seem to be labeled correctly, but I'm certainly no expert. And the one showing at Big Dipper doesn't have enough white for my taste. And I'm not a curly headed blond, as in Goldielocks. ;-)

I guess I'll try to hold off buying yet another amaryllis, but if I do just have to have another Charisma or find me some St. Joseph's, I'll stick with companies rated highly here on Daves.

Thanks y'all.

3gard., i remembered somebody else. Blooming Bulb. have been happy with their amaryllises, glads, lilies. They're having a sale on some fancy gift amaryllises but no Charisma

http://www.bloomingbulb.com/CartBulbs.asp?Category=108

Here's my H johnsonii, on the right in this photo, with it's close cousin H. ackermanii on the left. I think the ebay one is closer to the ackermanii.

A, the red in your two flowers is so vibrant. The red on my johnsonii is not quite as red or an uniform (saturated).

I had a good camera in those days that captured the red colors well but my johnsonii really is a true fire engine red.

Can you remember where you got it. Did you purchase it or was it a pass along? It really is perfect and exactly what I am looking for in a johnsonii. I'd appreciate being able to buy one from a place where I knew exactly what I was buying.
Thanks for the fabulous photo and any info. you can provide. :-)

Mine was a passalong but I believe the original came from Plant Delights. Thanks for the compliment on my picture; most of my red flower photos look all washed out.

There are many amaryllis listed in the Marketplace, including Charisma. Are you familiar with the seller?

I guess I will need to add one from Plants delight to my list for Spring!!

My experience is that if you study the listings well, you can almost always find the same vendor selling the same thing elsewhere on the net without the auction fees added on. Some of the people you listed are charging obscene prices for what you are getting. Take a key phrase from the listing and enter it into a search engine. That will often get you to a better alternative.

amaryllis fans, I found this source. http://www.stokestropicals.com/amaryllis.htm

They are in GWD, not stellar but most bad reviews were in 2000. I'm taking a chance and will report accordingly. Hurry! free shipping til Dec 31st.

No Charisma. :-(

I thought Charisma was a run-of-the-mill variety. Why can't I find them. Was I wrong?

i wouldn't call them run of the mill. I just think the growers focus on creating new varieties and pushing them into the market over older cultivars. Don't worry, you'll see them again but maybe not this season. In fact, I think you see that in all types of flowers--what is old is new and runs in a cycle.

I thought about you when I saw the SA rose. I hope that is not an enhanced pic, but I love the red w/ the green eye.

It looks like Bleek still has Charisma on his site http://www.eflowergarden.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=105

bleek is great. hurry, 3G, hurry!

Bleek just emailed me that he's out of all of his amaryllis. Drat. It just wasn't meant to be. On to potting up my Grand Cru from WalMart.

Sorry, 3G!

You got a Grand Cur form Walmart????

Whine, whine, whine, our WM NEVER has good stuff like that.

Well, I'm not an amaryllis connoisseur. I just think Charisma are pretty. Are Grand Cru something special? What makes them any better than any other red?

Wal-Mart had a whole moving cart of them marked down from $10 to $7 sitting outside with the leftover garden items yesterday. And it was 40 degrees yesterday. It's 25 degrees today and I don't know how low it got last night. They were all in their empty pots to be sold as Christmas gifts, but didn't get sold so now they're banished to the outdoors. A couple hundred of them. Wish I could save them all. How low can the tollerate and for how many days like that?

They had red lion, minerva, pink something, a orangy coral, star gazer and this grand cru. all in a metal pot with that peat puck. The bulbs are only about 3.5 in diameter though.

i found wonderful big bulbs at Amaryllis Bulb Co www.amaryllis.com
resonable prices and quality goods 100% satisfied nice paperwhites too.

Grand Cru? !!! Life is not fair.

And I thought Ardesia had the better WM for Amaryllis.

my grocery store has $4 amaryllises for sale. They're giant red, giant white, giant pink and giant var. red/white, whatever that means, lol. I got one white and one red. Bulbs were 22-24 cm and beginning to sprout. I don't care, I know they will do well.

It's Christmas, it's Christmas! Here it is the 24th and my purchases from stokes just arrive. They are awesome! Do they deserve a thumps up or what?

here is brazilian stripe, ain't she gorgeous

and here is San Antonio rose.

they even had a heating pack inside the box. It was still quite toasty

Nice vossner. I have two of the San Antonio rose coming too!

from stokes? if yes, glad I shared the tip. they deserve the biz

I'll be very interested in how your SA Rose does. I got one from Yucca Do a couple of years ago and it has stayed small and not bloomed. Although it reproduces pups very well, they too are tiny. I have been treating htem the same way I treat my johnsonii's; maybe these need a bit more food - or something????

ardie, maybe you got an immature plant/bulb and it will treat you to some flowering action this season. Threaten them, that always works, lol.

I just reread your posting. Call Yuccado. they are such a good biz, they're bound to help.

This message was edited Dec 24, 2008 11:32 AM

Yep from Stokes.
I agree Wade over at Yuccado is awesome and always answers my e-mails when I have questions.

I bought the bulb over two years ago and when it didn't bloom the first year I wasn't surprized. I thought about contacting then this past spring but we were involved with the remodeling of the house and I just didn't get around to it. I suspect it was an immature bulb but it made lots of little ones itself. Definitely a promiscuous teenager.

I hope some one can help me and I know I have read somewhere about what you have to do to the hipps after they are finished blooming for the year but can't remember what it said. I have one now the blooms are dying out and I don't know if I have to cut it back or what. It is the Minerva. Also it has 2 large seed pods that I would like to keep if possible. It had 4 blooms on it but only 2 have seeded out. One of them looks like it could burst it is so big. How do I go about keeping the seed pods?
I just bought one of the Grand Crus also at the walmart just last week and it is growing and will probably flower out in a few weeks. Also a Red Lion.

Went to my Wal Mart today and got a Red Lion, Apple Blossom, Grand Cruz, Romance, & Pink Diamond. These were 5.00 or 2.50 each. Everything is 50% off. I think I also got a Minerva. Will post pics as they bloom.