I didn't think I should write an introduction since my bulb-growing operation is described in such detail in the first Pacific Bulb Society newsletter, but since this forum has members who will not be receiving that newsletter, here is a summary. I live on 10 acres (4 ha) in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains about 30 miles southeast of Portland, Oregon and about 30 miles from Mt. Hood, a not entirely dormant volcano. The elevation here is about 1600 feet (500 m) and the soils are of course volcanic, mildly acidic, and very well drained. Average winter minimum temperature is about 15 degrees F (minus 10 degrees C), but varying quite a lot; most plants in the open garden have survived 5 degrees F (minus 15 C), and most in the bulb frame have survived at least 25 F (minus 4 C). The big problem for bulbs is the wet winters: average 45 inches, almost all as rain, between October and June, with frequent hard frosts in between rainstorms. July through September is normally dry. The natural soil drainage and my berm-style rock garden help, but winter-growing foliage often suffers. The atmospheric humidity is low in summer, resulting in sharp night cooling, so I don't grow many moisture-loving summer bulbs, which I find do not flourish without humidity and constant warmth. I grow about 1,200 taxa of geophytes, mostly in five 40-foot-long, 4-foot-wide ranges of unheated frames, in mesh or clay pots plunged in sharp sand. I'll try almost anything that is likely to be frost-hardy but don't have much success with South African bulbs or with bulbs from wet-summer climates, which are too much trouble when everything else is on a Mediterranean cycle. In addition, there are a lot of bulbs in the open garden, particularly genera that are not attacked by voles and field mice, terrible pests here in the country. Finally, I have a heatable plant room that is part of my house, where I keep tender bulbs over winter and start some of my seedlings. I am the editor of the NARGS journal, the Rock Garden Quarterly, and have now edited three contributor volumes for NARGS and Timber Press, including "Bulbs of North America." I also edit other kinds of books, particularly academic reference books and monographs in the humanities and social sciences, and sometimes in the natural sciences. My BA is in classics (helps with taxonomic names)and MA in comparative literature (helped only with persuading me to forgo the PhD!). I enjoy traveling to see plants and so far have done this in South America (twice), New Zealand, and England. Other hobbies are cooking, collecting Arts and Crafts pottery, and attempting to train my Malamute dogs (2 AKC obedience titles in the past, so it's not impossible, but they'd rather hunt mice). With best regards, Jane McGary