Nathan Your comments show that something else is obviously at work here. We can reliably predict flowering based on our winter temperatures, and in our trials, we have seen no effect of planting depth on flowering of lycoris x sqamigera...very interesting that it flowers well in your climate. Are you seeing them flowering better with shallow planting? Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: Nathan Lange http://date.com:7/30/2014/ 8:02 PM (GMT-05:00) To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: Re: [pbs] Lycoris squamigera in warm climates I haven't had any problems growing and flowering other Lycoris species in Sonoma County, California although L. radiata is sporadic and, not surprising, plants growing in the south facing sides of sun-exposed pots seldom flower. Having grown L. squamigera in the Midwest and Amaryllis belladonna in California, I think the two species would make for an interesting side by side comparison. I was hoping to avoid refrigerating the bulbs since the flowers look best in mass and the bulbs can get very big and multiply quickly. The winter climate here is significantly colder than where Ken lives 500 miles to the south in San Diego. As for Tony's comment that his plants won't flower unless the temperature drops below 15F (-9C), I suggest and hope this has more to do with bulb planting depth and the overall colder winters indicative of temperatures below 15F since it is highly unlikely that the bulbs themselves have a optimal vernalization temperature below 32F (0C). Probably wishful thinking that they could reliably flower here. There are many ways to push the envelope and grow plants in colder climates with winters normally considered too cold, but how does one achieve the reverse without refrigeration? There are limited options: Grow in pots that can be moved out of any direct sunlight during the winter. But, keep the pots exposed to the open sky at night to take advantage of radiational cooling. Plant shallow to take advantage of longer colder nights. Use a very aerated mix directly around the bulbs to promote evaporative cooling (not very helpful during damp winters). Water with ice cubes from the kitchen (probably have to do this at least daily to make any difference and daily water could induce rot). Place one of those gel ice packs on top of the pot every day (probably would only achieve, at best, one or two hours of actual chilling per day) Any ideas? Nathan