x Amarine

[johnralphcarpenter]

Bought some bulbs of x Amarine 'Belladiva' from Exbury this year; first one just coming into flower.

[johnralphcarpenter]

Getting better and better.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Ralph,
how much bigger than Nerine bowdeni is your xAmarine? Do you have one in flower for comparison?
It looks to have wider bases to the petals compared to an ordinary nerine,
cheers
fermi

[johnralphcarpenter]

It's about the same height as Amaryllis belladonna and Nerine 'Zeal Giant', but bigger than most Nerine. I'll take some more pictures for comparison.

[johnralphcarpenter]

This clump of x Amarine 'Bellediva' gets better and better. And x Amarine tubergenii is looking good in a pot.

[brianw]

I bought 2 locally yesterday in a bogof deal. They seems a bit lush and soft. Online the source nursery near Knutsford suggests they flower before leaves but these were well in leaf when I saw they 6 weeks ago and are beginning to flower now. 1 main bulb and several side shoots in each pot. They will stay in pots this winter until I find a better home.

[johnralphcarpenter]

A general view of a recently replanted area; Nerines, x Amarine, and other things.

[johnralphcarpenter]

A contrast in sizes: x Amarine tubergenii (in front) and Nerine humilis var. breachiae.

[johnralphcarpenter]

X Amarine 'Bellediva' is back in flower.

[Gail]

Amarine 'Anastasia' flowering now.

[Alan_b]

I was looking into the history and nomenclature of x Amarine this week.  It looked to me as if all the ones commercially available derived from the van Tubergen nursery.  They have a 'Belladiva' series but I'm not sure if that encompasses all their named cultivars.  It's all a bit vague. 

[Gail]

I've not found much about the origins of them either. I've not been to Wisley for ages but apparently they planted 2,000 on Battleston Hill; has anyone seen them in flower?
https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley/wisley-blogs/wisley/october-2015/plant-of-the-month-october

There are a couple of nice pictures of them as grown by a member of the Nerine and Amaryllis Society about half way down this page;
http://www.nerineandamaryllidsociety.co.uk/87289.html

[Alan_b]

Thanks, Gail.  I really don't like the new-style dumbed-down RHS.  They had the perfect opportunity to say something about the origins of x Amarine and all we get is

it was originally bred for the cut flower trade, which is why the stalks are tall and straight, but it has since proved to be a useful outdoor plant.

You might also suppose that members of the Nerine and Amaryllis Society could breed their own x Amarines but they seem to be confined to growing 'Belladiva'.

[David Nicholson]

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/353071/%C3%97-i-Amarine-tubergenii-i-Belladiva-Series/Details?returnurl=%2Fplants%2Fsearch-results%3Fdisplay%3DGrid%26context%3Db%25253D33960%252526hf%25253D12%252526l%25253Den%252526q%25253D%25252523all%252526s%25253Ddesc%25252528plant_merged%25252529%252526sl%25253Dplants%26s%3Ddesc(plant_merged)%26form-mode%3Dtrue%26page%3D2829%26aliaspath%3D%252fplants%252fsearch-results

[brianw]

I actually got 1 flower stem on my 2 clumps (in pots). They stay evergreen for me still, with minimum of watering, against a south wall. Maybe I should force summer dormancy by baking under glass.