At 08:25 AM 8/16/2004 -0500, Jim Waddick wrote: >And in 2002 I sold over 2,000 Chinese Lycoris bulbs (23 >varieties) Were you not interested less than 2 years ago? Actually, Jim, my interest in Lycoris goes back a long way. It probably peaked back in the '70s when I was raising seedlings of Lycoris sprengeri. It and L. sanguinea were the only Lycoris I had which were both hardy and would set seed. I found these plants to be very slow from seed; furthermore, they are very prone to bulb fly infestation here. It was an uphill battle. For awhile I dropped out of the Lycoris scene, but I always have had a vestigial interest in the genus. When I was younger, I was not much of a joiner; and as a result, a lot that was happening in horticulture was under my radar screen. When the current new wave of Lycoris importations from China first began to arrive, I was preoccupied with other Chinese imports. Five or six years ago I mentioned hardy yellow Lycoris to a friend: she said "contact Jim Waddick". I had never heard of Jim Waddick, and didn't follow through on it. I dropped the ball there, and thus missed the boat. I don't know if you saw some of my earliest postings to PBS, but one of the questions I asked was one concerning a hardy, yellow Lycoris. I had some catching-up to do! I guess it does seem like faint praise indeed when I say of Lycoris squamigera something like "it stinks". But I really do like the plant; it's one of those reliable workhorse plants which takes care of itself and does it thing as reliably as anything in the garden. It's well represented in my garden, and I still jump at the chance to acquire bulbs when the price is right. I'm handicapped there: I can remember when they were 50 cents each; recently I saw them listed for $7.98 each, a price which strikes me as outrageous for such an easily grown plant. They are no harder to grow than daffodils, and by rights should not be any more expensive than most established, standard daffodil cultivars. Last year at a local plant sale there was a stall selling home grown bulbs from an old established planting for a much more reasonable price: I took twenty-five, and would have taken more had I the cash with me. For what it is worth, you can take some solace in your failure to grow Amaryllis belladonna well. You are in distinguished company: Thomas Jefferson had trouble with it at Monticello. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpwoer.net Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where these days the local belladonne are apt to have been smoking something. >