Alex asked, >I have managed to acquire a bulb of Frit. >striata, and wonder if there is any special >requirement this species has? I have planted it in a >sandy/gritty loam and have started to water it, which >is much the same way I cultivate F. liliacea with >reasonable success. These two species have very similar growth behavior, with the foliage emerging in midwinter and the flowers following after the leaves are fully developed. I grow both in an unheated bulb frame, where they probably survive temperatures lower than anything Alex's plants will encounter. I cover the plants when the outdoor temperature is expected to dip below about 24 F (minus 4 C) to avoid the foliage freezing and becoming vulnerable to pathogens. After very cold temperatures, the flower stems may emerge distorted, but the plants are normal the next year. F. striata flowers here in early February, and F. liliacea about 3 weeks later. I still have my original bulbs of both, grown from seed in the early 1990s, and many of their descendants. I've heard that F. striata does not set seed in England, but it does here without hand pollination, and I find this seed is welcome in exchanges. For those not familiar with F. striata, it comes from southern California. The flowers, usually 3 to 5 per stem, are pendent, white with stippled stripes of gray to pink on the exterior, and large relative to the size of the scape. The tepals are strongly recurved just at the tips, and the entire flower narrowly cunnel-shaped. They are very sweetly fragrant, too, so the whole effect is of a miniature Madonna lily. It flowers from seed in about 4 years. I think the difficulty some growers in the UK have with this species is that, grown that far north, it doesn't obtain the high light levels it needs during its winter growth period. This can cause the scape to elongate and flop over, and the buds to "go blind." One supposes that in the long term, it will also weaken the bulb. If Alex can supplement with artificial light during midwinter, he may get it to behave more in character. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA