We moved to New Jersey from Wilton Connecticut in September 1993. Located close to the Delaware River, the property is almost 9 acres, wooded with Liriodendron tulipifera, Quercus borealis, and overshadowed Juniperus virginiana that are dying out. The land slopes to the north/ northeast, with an intermittent drainage channel more-or-less along the eastern property line. The soil is clay laced with shale, everything from gravel to one-woman, woman-and-man, to too big to budge. Weeds abound - everything from Rosa multiflora and Japanese honeysuckle to Alliaria petiolata and Japanese stilt grass. There are deer, woodchucks, voles - lots of voles, white-footed deermice, and a few rabbits. There are also wild turkeys, bluebirds, red-tailed hawks, great horned owls, turkey vultures. One spring there was even a bachelor black bear who hung around for a few weeks (seen by neighbors, not me.) Weather is widely variable. The winter of 93/94 was quite cold and snowy, rather like the winter of 02/03. The previous winter of 01/02 wasn't - less snow than the 5 inches we received yesterday, 7 March, and quite mild. Some summers we have rain, others are dry. The summer of 2002 was record setting. I would prefer that historical records remain history, rather than be superseded. Since we have a well I do very little supplemental watering. Hoses can only stretch so far. The well is over 500 feet deep I add, a fact we know to be true for the well pump went out last summer and had to be replaced. It took almost 2 hours to pull the pipe. On a weekend of course. I knew, leaving the garden of my heart after 25 years in Connecticut, that unless I did something PDQ spring would be disastrous. That fall I planted 8,000 bulbs - daffodils and scads of little 'uns - chionodoxa, galanthus, scilla etc. I've kept it up, more or less, and there are now about 40,000 bulbs here at Bellewood. Bulbs need to be self-sufficient, deer-resistant, and, preferably, capable of naturalizing. Fritillaria meleagris does quite well, as do the camassia I moved from Connecticut and others that I've added. Hyacinthoides hispanicus is welcome to strew itself around the woodland - there is room enough for it to multiply. Leucojum vernum, moved from Connecticut, is quite happy. Leucojum aestivum appears to be settling in. Daffodils range from cyclamineus cultivars - 'Dove Wings' is perhaps my favorite, to 1,400 poeticus - everything from 'Old Pheasant Eye' to 'Felindre' and 'Cantabile'. 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' is nodding under snow today, as is 'Dutch Master' (aka 'King Alfred'.) There's a tiny little thing, perhaps 'Mustard Seed'? that I moved from Connecticut. This message is already long enough. Perhaps when we get closer to summer I'll add some more. But you could always visit my web site, http://www.bellewood-gardens.com/ for an (admittedly irregular) update. Judy Glattstein in the Garden State