Max wrote: >>I blame low winter rain (we've had about 20" per year, or less, until this year), but it could also be compete desiccation in the summer. I welcome any thoughts. I haven't tried either of those in beds rather than pots, so take this with a grain of salt, but here's my vote: Summer dryness is killing the I. viridiflora. I've heard from several growers that it does well with a bit of summer moisture. According to Kirstenbosch, it grows in mountain slopes near Tulbagh (http://plantzafrica.com/planthij/ixiaviridi.htm/). If you look at the South African climate map on the wiki (http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/…. gif), that area averages about two fully dry months in the summer, and even in summer it can get about half an inch of rain per month. That is very different from the part of California that you and I inhabit, where a five month complete summer drought is normal. Tulbagh's summer rain pattern is similar to Eureka, California. However, I bet something else is making your D. ida-maia suffer. I grew them in pots for years with total summer dryness, and they were very happy -- making offsets, seeds, etc. But they tended to dive to the bottom of the pot, and would then die in a couple of years if not repotted. I forgot to do the repotting at one point, and that was the end of my Dichelostemmas. I have been trying to find seeds to get them started again. They sure are pretty. >>I'd be interested to hear of other floriferous Calochortus. Okay. This is a *very* early report, and I'm not ready to draw any conclusions, but this year I switched some of my bulbs from standard 8-inch (20 cm) plastic pots to Strewe Treepots that are 8" wide and about 16" (40 cm) deep. They look like designer wastebaskets. I put a few of my Calochortus in them, because like Dichelostemma they tend to dive deep in normal pots and then die. The result so far is some very robust, happy-looking Calochortus plants. C. uniflorus bloomed for several months, and three different Mariposa species are just now coming into bloom. It's too early to judge, but I think deep pots really do help. That fits with the advice I've gotten from a couple of veteran growers. Mike San Jose, CA (min temp 20F / -6C)