Ben wrote: >> I wanted to ask about your experiences growing CA bulbs, particularly Brodiaea, Triteleia, Dichelostemma, Calochortus, Allium and others. I'm curious about predation from ground rodents, and to a lesser extent, deer resistance or lack thereof! Welcome, Ben! I live about an hour south of you, in San Jose. The gophers and rats/mice here eat bulbs eagerly, so long ago I got into the habit of growing everything in pots, with half-inch mesh chicken wire buried under the top half-inch of the soil. But the heaviest attacks are on my South African bulbs. The Californians don't seem to be hunted as eagerly. A friend and fellow list member, Bob Werra, has a large collection of Calochortus in Ukiah, CA (for those of you who don't know California, that is an inland town a couple of hours north of San Francisco; think hot dry summers and cool winters but not heavy freezes). Bob had his Calochortus in pots for years, but recently he planted all of the Calochortus into the ground on a south-facing slope. He lives in an area where C. amabilis grows wild, and is regularly eaten down by the deer. But his collection, including a lot of the Mariposa group, is protected by a deer fence and grew extremely well in the ground. I saw the spot in summer, and there were still a lot of seed pods on the dried flower stems, a sign of happy Calochortus. Are you coming to the PBS meeting in Berkeley later this month? We could compare notes there... Mike San Jose, CA (zone 9, min temp 20F / -7C)