I've been reading for many years now the ideas that people have had about what makes these bulbs bloom. I live in an area where they are planted everywhere and every year there is a good show. This year seems even better than usual as when I'm out hiking I have seen a lot of them blooming. My observations lead me to believe that it is good light that makes the biggest difference as they often bloom in areas that get no summer water at all. This year we had our last good rains in April and only tiny amounts in May and only fog since then and in July they started appearing and have continued to do so since then. My other observation has been that even though first shoots may start in July, new shoots within miles of the same area will continue to appear for many months. My garden is shady and I planted them in a number of spots before I realized that they would need more light. Most of my plants never bloom, but there are a couple that bloom about this time in a more open area and some others that bloom in September or October in another area of my garden. I've been wondering if individual plants have their own timing depending on their parentage. Some of my plants were ones that were dug from Les Hanibal's garden and shared so are hybrids. To my surprise, this year I have three others that are going to bloom. We are in a rather severe drought and two of them might have been shaded a bit by a very large Leucospermum shrub that died and was removed. I'm not sure about why the other is blooming. It bloomed a couple of times maybe fifteen years ago. Besides the ground being even dryer than usual we've had a cooler than usual summer. At least it seems that way as we have had more fog that we sometimes do. It's welcome as fire danger is high. So at least here in northern California south of where Kathleen lives, the bulbs are not behaving according to the theory that they bloom earlier with a warm summer and that they bloom better with some summer water. Mary Sue