Dear Mary Sue, Arent these hybrids between Sprekelia and Hippeastrum named X Hippeastrelia? Personally I find these invented names awful and botanically I think they are no longer correct, but aren't there members who should know better? For Sprekelia: I find it is one of the easiest plants in the Amaryllidaceae to flower (I abandoned my Hippeastrum collection after 12 years without significant flowers) Sprekelia comes from Mexico and is considered borderline hardy in England (not with me in Germany, I tried) So in California you could leave the bulbs outside and forget them, They need a certain size to bloom and respond well to fertilizer, they like full sun and moisture during their growth. I grow a very large flowered one which was given to me more than 10 years ago by an English friend who collected it in Mexico.....on a rubbish dump. I sent a leaf of it to Mr Zonneveld in Leiden to have its DNA measured and he said it had a very high DNA weight so may be something special. I am happy to share the odd offset but I tried selfing it: self incompatible. I do not know 'Orient' this may be a good partner to try to cross it with unless my plant is a kind of polyploid that is not compatible at all. The only disadvantage is that the flowers do only last very few days...... but they are striking! greetings from the first warm summer days, Uli