Bulbs that can be converted to another cycle--TOW

I remembered another bulb that a lot of people are growing at a different
time than in its native habitat and that is Paramongaia weberbaueri. At
least there does seem to be a difference of opinion about when to grow it
and maybe even when it grows in its native habitat.

According to Alberto:

Paramongaia is a genus of amaryllids from the hot dry west facing mountains
of Peru and Bolivia. The plant has long erect obtuse leaves of an
attractive greyish glaucous color. Flowers are like giant daffodils and are
produced with the leaves fully developed. Flower color is a deep buttery
yellow. A very dry winter dormancy is required. This plant requires hot,
sunny conditions and very rocky/gritty soil. Bulbs must be planted deeply
and are medium sized. P. superba is one of Ravenna´s species and is only a
good sized variant of weberbaueri.

Contrast that with this information from Kevin Preuss:
They (referring to both species) "are winter bloomers and growers, as are
many Andean geophytes. Cultivate under cool, but not cold conditions,
frost-free, dry in the summer. The flowers typically appear in early
winter before the leaves (hysteranthus). My experience with this species
is limited to vegetative growth, no flowers yet! It does not like frost as
a couple leaves a damaged from recent freezing temps (30 F / -1 C)."

I bought one of these from Bill Dijk in Pasadena who gets his to bloom in
August in New Zealand. Then I returned home and reviewed my saved archives
about it I got very confused. Most people who have reported getting it to
bloom started it in fall and found it didn't grow very long before it
wanted to go dormant. One man from Canada started it in February and had
better luck. Paul Chapman from the UK was trying to grow it in summer but
had never gotten it to bloom. His had been given him by another well known
bulb grower in the UK who grew it on a summer schedule.

I had planted mine in sand and was waiting for fall to water it, but when
Alberto insisted I'd do better growing it in summer I finally watered it
and it immediately sprang into life in August 2002. Although I finally
stopped watering in November on Alberto's advice the leaves were slow to
die back waiting until almost until April before they were totally gone.
This year I replanted it in a much deeper pot than before (late spring) and
then watered it. There was no sign of activity. Periodically during summer
I'd give it a bit of water. When we went to South Africa I tagged it to
receive water only if there was foliage. When I returned from South Africa
I saw that it had come up while I was gone, probably sometime in August
judging from the leaves which were good sized in September. Did it remember
when it grew here last year and want to repeat the pattern? It's a mystery
to me. Paul tried to turn his into a winter grower, but it continues to
come into growth in summer. Someone else reported that no matter how much
water she gave hers, it did not start into growth until the temperatures
got cooler in the fall.

Now since this one is rather tender, it would seem much better to grow it
in summer. One wonders what it is that triggers it into growth.

Mary Sue

Mary Sue Ittner
California's North Coast
Wet mild winters with occasional frost
Dry mild summers