Crocus speciosus is flowering right now, and the display is the best ever, perhaps due to the long, hot summer. Today it's overcast and the high color temperature makes the flowers glow like they are fluorescent. C. speciosus presents problems for the gardener, however. The various cultivars of it are, I believe, completely scrambled in commerce, to the degree that I doubt any of the named forms I've acquired over the years is what it claims to be. One exception is the "alba" form, which is mostly true to name, but the stock is contaminated by a few blue forms, perhaps seedlings in the nursery beds. And one bulb — just one! — is a darker color, almost purple instead of the usual violet-tinged blue, with the dark color spreading down the flower tube almost to the soil. Another problem is that the flower tubes of C. speciosus are very long and very fragile. While I have a stupendous show at the moment, the first rain will knock all the flowers to the ground. I've read somewhere that in nature C. s. grows up through low shrubs and woody groundcovers, so perhaps planting them in such a location would ameliorate their fragility in the face of wet weather. Deer are another problem: they love crocus flowers and can convert the present display to a mass of flowerless tubes overnight. It's really quite remarkable how precisely the deer nip the flowers off! Finally, this is one bulb that can become weedy in the right conditions. Think twice about where you plant it. Regrettably, not one of my cameras is up and running so I can't provide a photo. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Z. 7-8, cool Mediterranean climate