On 16 Mar 2009, at 15:43, Jane McGary wrote: > . . . there was some untoward laughter when remarks such as "five years from > sowing to flowering" were heard. Must not have been *real* gardeners who were laughing. *Real* gardeners are patient people: some have waited forty years for a seedling of Magnolia campbelli mollicomata to flower -- or so the legend goes! "Untoward" is quite the right word to describe the giggles. And Dykes, the famous iris expert, had one iris species germinate nearly 20 years after being sown. The correct response to "five years from sowing to flowering" is a bowed head and respectful silence, coupled with a resolution to become as patient, if not moreso. I won't mention the aged gardeners who plant trees that will take a century to reach full maturity. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island http://maps.google.ca/maps/…