I know that many people recommend starting new, unfamiliar, or unusual species from seeds rather than from mature bulbs for a variety of good reasons, including things like freedom from viruses, the plant gets to adapt to your own particular climate starting from birth so to speak, no need for changing hemispheres for seeds from the opposite hemisphere, etc. I've started many different species from seeds over the years and have had great success. However, there seem to be the odd few where I have been spectacularly unsuccessful trying to start them from seeds while simultaneously and sometimes surprisingly having had no problems growing them starting with an already mature bulb. For example, it is almost embarrassingly easy for me to grow and multiply the various varieties of Tecophilaea cyanocrocus starting from just one bulb each. I treat them virtually identically to how I treat my Cape Bulbs on an annual basis. I've germinated seeds of T. cyanocrocus a number of times, and I germinate and grow them with my other Cape Bulb seeds that I'm germinating and growing. However, unlike the mature bulbs pots where each fall it seems that each bulb has added 2 or more additional offsets, very few to none of my pots of T. cyanocrocus seedlings bother to emerge in the fall/winter even though their neighbor Cape Bulb seedlings return to growth just fine. The few Tecos that do return grow just fine, but then finally disappear the second summer never to be seen again. From a different land of origin, Central Asia (aka the "-stan" countries), come some desirable bulbs. I debated even trying any of them because even though their springs, summers, and falls appear climatically similar to southern California's springs, summers, and falls. Their winters are much colder, freezing in fact, because of the very high elevations in that area. I've tried several different species from seeds from different sources several different times, and either because they need to be stratified or need the freezing winters, or something else?, they never germinate. However, in the case of two, the opportunity arose to obtain a mature bulb of each. These were Colchicum luteum and C. kesselringii. They both grew and bloomed their first year, but of course I expected that. But they have come back for two more years and both bloomed again each time. And they appear to be slowly getting larger in size. They both appear about halfway through our (relatively mild) winters. I've never gotten seeds of either of these to germinate. So I wonder what other bulbs might not germinate under my conditions, but the bulbs, if germinated and grown to maturity elsewhere, will find my conditions acceptable or even likeable to grow in and multiply once they get past a certain indeterminate stage? Have others experienced similar or analogous results with other species? Any good explanations as to why? --Lee Poulsen Pasadena, California, USA, USDA Zone 10a