Dear Friends, We've had a long gloomy month here in the Heartland. There's been about a foot of snow for a month. It has slowly been melting after a 5 day round of temps in the low 40s F and dense fog. All very odd for this area. During this time the temps went as low as -10F and stayed below freezing /32 F for about 10 days. Narcissus 'Cedric Morris' usually begins blooming by the end of Jan to mid-February. It opened its first flowers Nov 22, 09 and now 2 months later! the first flower is finally fading. It has thrived in these long , cold and dull days. We keep it under a plastic dome to keep the bunnies from eating them, not as protection from the cold. There are still flowers in fine shape that opened after November. Quite remarkable in this climate. Meanwhile as the snow is slowly melting - but still not gone - our most vigorous snow drop/Galanthus is visible and showing color. This is the cv I've praised before from Don Hackenberry called "'Mighty Atom' - NOT". Close, but no cigar. This is our most reliable grower. It always flowers, the flowers are as large or larger than any other snowdrop (including 'S. Arnott' ), the clumps increase in size each year and it seems to divide and move without a care. Totally trouble free. The melting snow has also made evident the freeze and cold damage to exposed leaves, frozen buds on Helleborus foetidus and similar. A foot of snow provides considerable protection, but at -10 there's just so much we can count on. Can spring be far ? Best and warm thoughts Jim W. ps We just finished mailing out first 100 SIGNA seed packages to members. Whew. A good start, but a lot of work. -- Dr. James W. Waddick 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 USA Ph. 816-746-1949 Zone 5 Record low -23F Summer 100F +