Dear John, There are both winter and summer rainfall Romuleas and Gladiolus. When you start them depends on whether they are one or the other. Winter rainfall plants are best started in fall and summer rainfall plants in spring. That is the reason Alberto is always after us to designate in the BX when the plants grow. You may have missed what has been said more than once and that is that many of the South African Irids need a change from day to night temperatures to germinate properly. I have had much better success with mine since I have moved my seed pots to my unheated greenhouse where I am sure they will have warm temperatures during the day and cool temperatures at night. I start most of the winter growing Irids in October and most germinate a month to six weeks later. In my experience Gladiolus seed that doesn't germinate the first year rarely and maybe never comes up later. Romuleas on the other hand are very different. I have learned from Robin Attrill to be patient. If they don't come up the first year I move the seed pot to a shaded area outside and leave them. They get water when it starts raining again and they often come up the second year. If your plants are winter growers and they are just now coming up (hopefully they have been up for awhile and you just didn't know) be sure you keep them as cool as possible and feed them well. They have a tendency to go dormant when the weather gets warmer and may not have made a large enough corm to survive their dormancy. Unlike Amaryllids I haven't been able to keep them going for a whole year the first year. Of my 33 packets of irid seed from Silverhill I had germination in 24. None of the Aristeas came up and two of five of the Lapeirousias didn't come up. When we were talking about difficult seeds in December I mentioned these as being an ongoing challenge for me. One Micranthus didn't come up and three Romuleas species out of eight. I have given up on those last three however and will keep those pots for three years. All of the Babiana, Freesia, Gladiolus, Ixia, Moraea, and Watsonia seed I purchased from Silverhill germinated to some degree. At least from my experience paying attention to providing a change in temperature from day to night has improved my success. Mary Sue