Welcome, Bill Dijk and Gerrit Oskam! I had the pleasure of meeting Bill face to face at the Bulb Symposium in Los Angeles in April. Maybe the next time I'm in the Netherlands, I can look up Gerrit. Hot and humid here, with just enough bits of rain to tantalize us. The Lycoris are blooming, at least in the beds that have been watered this summer; and Hymenocallis caroliniana is starting to bloom in the beds. The H. caroliniana that are in pots bloomed a couple weeks ago. I have already harvested the first seeds, from selfing a plant of H. caroliniana collected by the Shaw Arboretum in Stoddard county, Missouri. Others are just blooming. Last year's flowers are shown at URL = http://shieldsgardens.com/GLOVBulbs/… Also in pots, Scadoxus multiflorus katherinae are blooming nicely. One bloomed some time ago, while the Japanese Beetles were still abundant, and the blasted bugs ruined the inflorescence. Crinum moorei are blooming in their 5-gallon containers. A rebloom scape or two are showing on Crinum bulbispermum raised from seeds sent out by John Marks (Louisiana) in June, 1999. Since these first bloomed a year ago, they went from seed to flower in 2 years. They are putting up their third scapes of the summer. Bloom is pretty thin at best this time of year here. The drought conditions have made it even thinner. I always look forward to next season! Best wishes to all, Jim Shields in central Indiana ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. +1-317-896-3925