Hi All, I've been very preoccupied potting up bulbs these days. Like Paul Tyerman I have been starting a lot of seeds every year and my husband recently commented that he thought I was maxed out for room for all I grow. I know he is right. I've been glancing through the messages, but haven't felt I had time to respond to anything, but Jim McKenney has at last made me want to write. Reading Jim McKenney's remarks about bulbs appearing in the fall when his garden is at its peak reminds me of how different our growing conditions are on this pbs list. Like Angelo it has been a long time since we've had rain here, May for us. Everything is bone dry and dusty and the fire danger is high. Gardens are asleep just waiting for the wake up call with the first rains. Some of the bulbs are shooting out and even blooming, but they aren't going to last very long since we have been having a really hot spell and everything is so dry. I think of this time as the start of the garden season too and thought what Jim wrote was really poetic. I am really hooked on seeing signs of growth as the foliage emerges and spikes of flowers too. Our California natives mostly won't start appearing until October to March, but I grow South African bulbs and some of them are making an appearance now. There are some summer rainfall species that bloom at the end of their season in bloom at the moment: Nerines, Tritonia disticha, and some Gladiolus. Today my old standby, Calydorea amabilis, one of the longest blooming bulbs I grow had four flowers and there was a nice flower on Cypella coelestis. I think it would like a hotter summer and I've only had a handful of flowers, but it is such a stunning thing when it bloom. No doubt it has been liking our recent weather. The Zephyranthes candida, the same one Jay shared with so many, has been really nice the last couple of years. It likes getting watered every day in the pot with our lemon tree which is on drip irrigation. It also doesn't seem to mind at all getting high nitrogen fertilizer that the lemon tree requires. So much for common wisdom. The first of the season winter rainfall Gladiolus have been blooming too. One species is finished; G. carmineus has been blooming all over the garden; and many others are spiking. Moraea polystachya is emerging and will be in bloom soon and two species of winter growing Oxalis are already blooming and others sprouting. Some of the summer growing Oxalis Uli has shared with me are still blooming, especially the wonderful one from Ecuador. The Cyclamen are appearing, always a thrill. Since our gardens are not at their best at the moment, I find the fall and the end of summer blooming bulbs give me a lift. They don't have so much to compete with so they are very special. I wish that Scilla scilloides that I've been growing from seed for a number of years now would bloom so I could decide whether or not I like it. If it is as unattractive as Jim says, I'll be sorry I wasted the summer water on it. A number of years ago I won some Bravoa geminiflora at a California Horitcultural Society auction being grown by someone with hot summers. It bloomed very nicely the first year, but hasn't since. This year it looks the best it has since I got it, but still no blooms. I'm wondering if it isn't happy with my temperatures. Does anyone on our list grow it? No one has added any pictures to the wiki in a week, a new record. I have a number of pictures to add and a new member from Australia sent me some pictures too, so will try to find the time to get them processed and up. Mary Sue Mary Sue Ittner California's North Coast Wet mild winters with occasional frost Dry mild summers