Dear All, Bill Dijk has posted some gorgeous pictures on the Bulbs_Images list of Paramongaia weberbaueri and Lapeirousia oreogena. He has also written about them so for the sake of you who have not subscribed to that list I will post his comments after I ask my questions. In Pasadena at the IBS meeting after resisting for the first couple of days, I finally bought a Paramongaia weberbaueri bulb. Then I got home and reread what people had written about it in the past. Many of those people are on this list. To summarize what was written in the past, this beautiful bulb is very hard to grow and flower. There were quite a few frustrated folks. For some it naturally starts into growth in the northern hemisphere in October, November. It doesn't seem to grow very long before it goes dormant and can easily be killed with too much water. A man from Canada had found he was most successful getting it to grow starting in February when the temperatures were warmer where he lived. Paul Chapman's grew in summer (but did not bloom.) Alberto told us that this plant needed a dry winter dormancy. Someone else said it got a scorching hot summer and a cold wet winter. After reading everything I saved (write me privately if you were not part of the past discussions and want the thread mailto:msittner@mcn.org ), I was totally confused and wished I had not suffered from bulb greed. The good news is that I only bought one. I potted it in a very sandy gritty mix in a deep pot and put it in my greenhouse for the summer. But I did not water it. My question: when should I water it? Did anyone else buy one of these in Pasadena and if so, what is/was your strategy? I also love that Lapeirousia that Bill has a picture of that I saw last August in Nieuwoudtville. But I have a lot of trouble getting Lapeirousia seeds to germinate and live. Since I have a couple of packages of seeds of this genus to start this fall/winter advice on that would be appreciated as well. Last year I think one seed of L. oreogena was all I got to come up. The only one that I have been able to grow well (but not flower yet) is Lapeirousia corymbosa and it has been multiplying like rabbits so in view of my other failures with this genus I can't wait for it to bloom to find out if it is really what it is supposed to be. And now Bill's message: Hi folks, Here are a couple of species not well known, but very welcome this time of the season when not much is in flower except for the daffodils. The first one is Paramongaia weberbaueri, a genus from Peru, growing on steep hillsides in well-drained deep scree, or decomposing granite. IT will make an excellent pot plant if you can get it to flower, which is not easy. Suppose to flower in late Summer but can be very variable, with flowers appearing for us as early as late Winter -early Spring. Flowers resemble large yellow daffodils with a very delicate fragrance. Not hardy, needs a glass-house in colder climates. Lapeirousia oreogena: a colourful species from Nieuwoudtville South-Africa, which produces masses of intense, tiny dark violet flowers, on 10 cm long long stems in late Winter, a welcome addition when there is not much colour around this time of the season. Quite spectacular on a sunny day. Needs perfect drainage to be successful. Enjoy. Bill D. Tauranga New Zealand