On Aug 20, 2006, at 7:49 AM, Mary Sue Ittner wrote: > Since I'm leaving for the IBSA > symposium early next week I'll miss seeing what some of them will look > like. > > As much as I will miss seeing the bulbs wake up in my garden I am > really > looking forward to seeing many of you on this list who live far away > at the > bulb symposium in South Africa. And they have had a lot of winter > rainfall > so those of us traveling there will no doubt have some amazing > botanizing. > > Mary Sue > > Given all the people on this and other lists from various countries who are going to South Africa soon for the IBSA symposium and/or the Clivia Conference, as well as the great rainfall they've had this winter, I am **so** envious. You all are going to have such a great time there, I just know it. Having been there only once (as well as to quite a number of other countries), I know South Africa is a fantastic place to visit anyway. So this makes the envy all the worse. Therefore, I want to hear all about everyone's trips there, what they see, who they met with and had fun with, plant shows, wildflower tours, everything no matter how off-topic. I know Jim Shields is going to try to write about his travels there: > I'll also make an attempt to keep an on-line diary of some of our > activities in a "blog" style (more or less). Just go to our home page > at: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ and select the link to "South > Africa 2006 Blog" on the first page. > So please share the great times with all the rest of us who are stuck in our home countries this time around. This year sounds like a can't-miss opportunity that I, unfortunately, will have to miss. --Lee Poulsen Pasadena, California, USDA Zone 10a