Dear All, I fell in love with Romuleas when we visited South Africa in August-September in 2001. As a diversion from my archive project which is almost finished I have posted some images to the wiki on the Romulea page: http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… We have had a respite from the rain for a couple of weeks and some glorious sunny days and I have a lot of bulbs in bloom. I won't list them all since I know some of you from colder climates are still waiting for spring, but just some of my favorites. Finally blooming (and growing in the ground) are many Leucojum aestivum. Last year I had blooms in December so this is a couple months later and I'm not sure why that is since it hasn't really been cold and last year we had a lot of rain early too. As I wander around my garden I get whiffs of Freesia alba which is one of my weeds. It is really nicely fragrant. Also I keyed out a new Freesia from the wonderful new Cape Encyclopedia finally blooming from a Robinett mystery bulb and it is Freesia fergusoniae. This one kind of lies on its side and the creamy yellow splashed orange flowers are also wonderfully fragrant. I was visiting my open air bulb structure and smelled it before I saw it. My Oxalis obtusa pots have been spectacular with the pinks, oranges, salmons, various shades of yellow, some intricately marked. Back when I thought Oxalis was a weed Diana talked about being dazzled by her benches. She, Mike Mace, and Andrew Wilson made me so interested I had to try some and I soon understood. Oxalis goniorhiza has been blooming since November with a bit of time off when it was so rainy. This is my first year for it. Was it Robin who sung its praises? It have to agree. It's very nice when it is closed even with the red on the back of the petals and a nice white when open. I love Cyclamen leaves and have Cyclamen coum blooming in many different shades and with many different leaf forms. It doesn't seem that long ago that Bill Dijk sent a number of us who wanted Scilla natalensis seed a few extra seeds of other things (because it didn't cost any more he said) including Cyclamen and that started me down the Cyclamen road which has been so satisfying. This time of year I enjoy what on California's North Coast I think of as my native Cyclamen just because I love the leaves. I grow several forms of Cardamine californica in the ground, but my favorite one is C.c. sinuata. It has purple and green leaves in many amazing combinations. And it is a geophyte and one of our first wild flowers to bloom in the spring! It is spreading in my garden in shady places and comes back every year without summer water. One of these days I'll get a picture one the wiki, but it is hard to photograph to give it justice. It's one of those things that when people come to my garden they stop and admire and say, "What is that?" And it sometimes blooms the first year from seed. The blooms are a bonus, but I really grow it for the colored leaves. I already have Calochortus blooming. I have some nicely marked Calochortus uniflorus that I hope will join Sheila's beautiful image on the wiki when I get around to it and favorites C. umbellatus and tolmiei. And I have some Triteleias blooming already too including T. ixioides scabra that the Robinett's called 'Tiger' that Mark McDonough showed on one of the images list and hopefully will add to the wiki. Another one in bloom is a really tiny short Triteleia hyacinthina, also a Robinett find. There continues to be one Lachenalia opening after another including Lachenalia 'Trader Joes'. I learned how to name these accurately from Patty Colville. Last year I bought this one at Trader Joes and it was growing in straight peat in a very tiny pot. This year in a bigger pot with a different mix each bulb has split and so each clumps has 3-5 blooming stalks. A particularly nice form of Lachenalia mutabilis that came from Bill Dijk seed is blooming now too. I planted some in the ground year before last and they are going to bloom again in the ground although the leaves are a bit marked from the winter storms and hail. Lachenalia carnosa that I remember fondly from one late afternoon in Namaqualand when I was trying to find the best one to photograph in the rocks as the sun was setting and I was being goaded by Rod and Rachel Saunders and my husband that the one in their sight was the best, is blooming now gift of Mark Mazer and the BX. It has wonderful leaves as well as flowers. In my mind's eye I remember it in the rocks and also looking off into the distance and instead of seeing a mass of green grass like we do here in the winter the whole scene was orange from all the closed daisies. My first Spiloxenes are blooming. I have a pink form of S. capensis that I got from Bob Werra that is really pretty with a turquoise center. And at last I have one S. serrata blooming. Jim Duggan had mentioned on his web page that this was a long blooming one and I have found it really challenging to get it going from seed. I only have a couple, but was excited to see one in bloom. Geissorhiza inaequalis is blooming everywhere. I'd like to report that heating it to 160 degrees (71 C.) while sterilizing my soil doesn't seem to phase it all. Some Oxalis survived this as well. It's a good think I like it because it is one of those that appear in other pots since it forms really tiny corms around the main corm that easily come off. My yellow Veltheimia bracteata from Doug is opening and I have nice buds on the others. They will always be favorites of mine, if only for their leaves. I must admit the leaves of the ones I shelter from the rain look a bit better than those in the ground. My two favorite Hesperanthas are blooming: Hesperantha latifolia which is a beautiful bright pink and the nice form of Hesperantha cucullata from Wayne Roderick seed that opens early afternoon instead of early evening like the other ones I grow and sacrifices fragrance in doing so. It has nice pink markings on the back and more subtle pink showing on the front. I bring it in to enjoy at night since it stays open until dawn. But I did say I wouldn't talk about everything so I will end where I began with the Romuleas. Jennifer posted the picture of Romulea komsbergensis for me. This was the first year for it from seed I got from Dirk Wallace. It is a lovely thing, but didn't bloom very long. Hopefully next year more of the corms will bloom so I'll have a longer season. I have been enchanted by my red Romuleas for weeks now. I will never ever forget seeing them in mass in the wild when we visited in a wet year August 2001 and have included one picture of that on the wiki. You will have seen a picture like that probably before since those of us fortunate enough to see those flowers in bloom and photograph the scene used our pictures. Rod Saunders put a picture in the Silverhill Seeds catalog and Richard Turner a picture in Pacific Horticulture. My husband also took a very nice picture of my own Romulea sabulosa blooming last week in a container. I grew it from Bill Dijk's seeds a number of years ago and it is doing very well for me. I added some pictures I took of Romulea monadelpha (front and back) last year. It starts to bloom for me as Romulea sabulosa is finishing and has been in bloom for about a week now. Both are two of the most beautiful bulbs I grow and I hope you will enjoy the pictures of them. As you can see from my note so many of my treasures are courtesy of others who made seed or bulbs available or just made me want to try to grow these because of their enthusiasm. I hope to get many of our old posts into the archives soon, but just had to take a break from it and focus on the flowers for my sanity. Mary Sue Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org> California's North Coast Wet mild winters with occasional frost Dry mild summers