Hi Adam and all, Hymenocallis occidentalis (now the accepted name for "caroliniana") normally blooms in late summer. This may be after the leaves have already died back. It's sister species, Hymenocallis liriosme, blooms in spring with the first flush of leaves. Both are fairly hardy in the North, but I'm not sure I've heard of any occidentalis blooming as far north as Chicago. Let us know what your bulbs do next year, please. Regards, Jim Shields in central Indiana (USA) At 07:02 PM 8/7/2005 -0500, Adam wrote: >....... >I also have two Hymenocallis caroliniana (if they're true to name) that are >in bud which surprised me because I got them in June with no leaves. I put >them in the bottom of a 10 gal. paint drum with a little peat outdoors and >some moisture so that they wouldn't dry out before I got around to planting >them. Two days ago, I noticed that 2 of the 7 had floweor stalks on them. >What is the usual bloom season for these? I thought that it was spring and >that they didn't go dormant until late fall. (These had been dug from the >wild , trimmed for sale and shipped with fleshy roots., which I think pushed >them into a artificial dormancy. (I bought them on eBay.) ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA