Gastil, if you want to try some other really blue flowers that should do well for you, try some of the Chilean ones. Right now I have the really blue Tecophilaea cyanocrocus in bloom and the vastly more vigorous *and* floriferous T. cyanocrocus var. leichtlinii which is a lighter, not quite as striking, blue, but still blue, as well as Tropaeolum azureum. I have the latter from two different sources, grown from seed, one of which has bloomed for me now a third year in a row, and the other bloomed this year for the first time and it is a significantly different and deeper shade of blue than the first one. Quite striking. I'm also hoping to get a second year of blooming from a pot of Zephyra elegans that finally has come back consistently for me. This is one species where it's really easy to get lots and lots of seeds to germinate and grow. But then only a few come back the next year, and until last year, none came back the third year. I've tried this one over and over for years. Anyway, last year, I thought I had a stray pot of Tecophilaea cyanocrocus var. leichtlinii--because it was a fairly similar-looking and -colored flower--but it appeared as a spray of flowers on a single stem (can't remember the technical term) rather than lots of single-stemmed flowers. And the scent! I guess I hadn't read anywhere (or more likely never paid attention) that it smells so wonderful. And you don't have to try to bury your nose in the flower to smell it. --Lee On Feb 12, 2014, at 5:55 PM, Gastil Gastil-Buhl <gastil.buhl@gmail.com> wrote: > Leo writes: > "if you have trouble with Colchicum, you can probably > grow saffron without too much trouble in well-drained soil." > > Yes saffron crocus grows well here. > At least two other Crocus also grow well here, C. goulimyi and C. minimus. > > All those beautiful blue bulbs Jane mentions, I am tempted to try them but I expect some would only bloom the first year and then not return for lack of a cold winter or copious rainfall. There are so many blue-flowering bulbs from climates similar to here that I want to first give space to those, the climate-appropriate choices. Or, I wish I were that wise. As Dell knows, I do try to grow seeds from much colder, wetter climes in hopes that the genetic variation will include some survivors. > > - Gastil > Santa Barbara, California > 34.5 N latitude, 91 ft elevation, approximately zone 9b or 10a > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/