This will probably be of no interest to the group, but I have found that growing things from Rachel's seed from South Africa, means that no conversion is necessary. They don't know they are in a different hemisphere, so planted at the beginning of growth in the northern hemisphere suits them fine and they perform on my time schedule without any need to be convewrted. Shirley Meneice > Dear All, > > The topic for this week is bulbs that can be converted to another cycle. > I couldn't quite figure out how to phrase this so it would be shorter > and clearer. I am hoping that all of you will share your experiences > trying to grow bulbs a different way than the would be found in nature. > Have any of you in cold climates been able to grow tender bulbs in the > summer that would not survive your climates otherwise? Have any of you > with harsh hot summers been able to grow plants that would like it > cooler at another time, say spring? I know that Lisa Flaum has been > trying to turn winter growers into summer growers and I hope she will > share how it is going. Some plants must respond to light and temperature > one would think. > > A number of years ago a man from Seattle told that he could grow > Ferraria in summer there and found it just wasn't happy in his long wet > cool winter, but grew quite happily in his cool dryer summers when there > was more light. I am wondering what other things could be treated this way. > > Andrew Wilson sent me a piece of a Pelargonium. I'm not sure if is one > that counts as a geophyte, but he was definitely able to send this piece > to me that looked like a dry stick. Although it had gone dormant for the > summer already, when I watered it, it sprung to life and even starting > blooming late summer. > > A friend told me of buying Sandersonia at the local farmer's market as a > late harvest flower in fall. This one obviously can be grown at > different times of the year. > > Slightly related to this, has anyone found that when they buy a bulb > from another hemisphere that starts to grow at the wrong time that they > can keep it growing at this time. I got two bulbs of Boophone from Rhoda > and Cameron and I am wondering if I can keep them winter growing. > > No one responded about Peter's Daubenya. Have others found that Daubenya > aurea is fall blooming for them instead of spring? > > So please share your experiences everyone. I know there are some people > really eager to hear about this. > > Mary Sue > > > PBS List Administrator, Wiki Worker, TOW Coordinator (Whew!) > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > > . >