I still remember Diana Chapman writing about the dazzling display of Oxalis she was growing many years ago and I'm having one of my own at the moment with some of the fall bloomers. A very long time ago we had a discussion about when to start winter growing plants into growth. Although California has a Mediterranean climate, our rainy season doesn't start as early as it does in some of the other Mediterranean climates. And often in my coastal climate autumn is warm and sunny. So the question was, do you start watering before it starts to rain. The answers as with many questions on this list were variable. I'd always read about California natives that if they were watered when it was warm, they could rot. Lauw suggested that if you waited too long to start watering some things, they wouldn't bloom so you should start watering earlier. Some things just start into growth at their time regardless and others really do seem to need moisture. What I have found with Oxalis from South Africa is that I have much better luck if I start watering them in August even if this means the fall blooming ones are blooming in some of our warmer days of the year. For many years I had no flowers on my Oxalis melanosticta 'Ken Aslet'. It was reported that there were some clones that didn't bloom well and I thought I had one of them. Still I continued to grow it since it has lovely hairy velvety leaves. Most years I shared my extras with the BX advising it might not bloom well, but had nice leaves. The last three years I've had good bloom. I'm now growing it in a pot that is 9" (22+ cm.) deep and starting to water in August. This year has been the best as it has been flowering for weeks. I just replaced one of my pictures of it on the wiki with one that shows the nice hairy leaves. <http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…>http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… In my climate either the deeper pot or the earlier time of starting it into growth or both I suspect is the difference. Mary Sue Mary Sue Ittner California's North Coast Wet mild winters with occasional frost Dry mild summers