This is the cold-hardiest amaryllis and “the finest... for garden culture,” according to Greg Grant in The Southern Heirloom Garden. It’s also the oldest hybrid amaryllis, bred by British watchmaker Arthur Johnson in 1799, and offered by nurseries in Virginia and California by 1853. With graceful red and white flowers, it’s hardy in zones 7-11 – or even 6b, says Tulsa’s Russell Studebaker in full-page praise of it in Horticulture magazine. It’s not quite as easy to bloom in pots as the modern monsters, but if we can do it, you can, too! We ship small plants that will bloom the following year. Click here for a cool St. Joe’s lily image from 1920. We hope to offer this rarity again in spring 2013. For an alert, subscribe to our email newsletter.

Extraordinarystems? You betcha! They’ re TALL – to 8 feet in ideal conditions, to 5 feet in a 10-inch pot on our porch here – and gorgeous, deep maroon-purple, like antique mahogany. Its dark emerald leaves are great, too, and it multiplies by runners! Constant moisture is essential. Zones 8-11 or bring indoors in winter. Vigorous small plantlets, from Florida. Last offered in 2007. Widely available elsewhere.