That does help considerably, thank you Ernie. I'm still amazed it survives for you there. And at only an inch below the surface. Cool! I wouldn't have dreamt of attempting albuca outside here, but with global warming and all it may soon be possible. I have an abundance of a. maxima bulbs, they would be the first attempt. My reasoning for attempting this one first is not only because of surplus but also I believe I could sink it fairly deep in the ground, below the frost line. My area is near desert conditions and it would be fairly easy to get medium conditions close. I do think I would run into too short a growing period, we average 112 frost free days. I haven't tried Galtonia, do you have pictures of yours you could put up on the wiki? Linda