>On 1 December Andrew wrote: "Looks as though you had plenty to see at >H[untington] B[otanical] G[arden]. The 'weedy' Moraea looks like M. >polystachya. Weedy or not, I like it.< The only time I've visited the Huntington BG/museum was in March 1986. I was 18 and it was the first garden outside the UK I had ever visited - I was impressed. In the gardens were ripe capsules of an irid with blue flowers and I couldn't resist helping myself to a pinch of seed. Eventually the seedlings flowered and I worked out it was Moraea polystachya. This week, visiting my parents, I found it flowering prolifically in the greenhouse there - a happy memory of a sunny Californian day 25 years ago. What is interesting though, is that it has never set seed in our dismal winters - the flowers get botrytis as they fade - so the plants flowering now are clonally the same as the original seedlings. It eventually escaped into the open garden, presumably as cormlets in spent compost, and a few plants have made it to flowering there. I'm not sure what the current situation is & whether any have survived the recent run of hard winters. Must look next time I'm there in some sort of daylight. John Grimshaw Visit John Grimshaw's Garden Diary http://johngrimshawsgardendiary.blogspot.com/ Dr. John M. Grimshaw Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP Tel. 01242 870567 Snowdrops at Colesbourne Park 2012 Every Saturday and Sunday in February and 3-4 March from 1pm Guided group tours on weekdays by appointment.