Kipp wrote, > I would wager the plants need a rather particular temperature and moisture regime and, being deeply buried in desert soil, do not appreciate the extreme temperatures of pot culture. An additional question with desert geophytes like this is whether they can be expected to grow every year - or even every 3rd or 5th year - at all. I'd be fascinated to hear about Theodore Paynes' strategy. Geophytes in north coastal Chile (the Atacama region, but not the true desert, where almost no plants are present) do not emerge every year, or on any particular schedule. After a "rain year" you will see a lot of, for example, Rhodophiala bagnoldii, but when I went there after the rains had failed to occur, I saw them only in one place: a young olive grove where the trees had drip irrigation. Very good observation about depth and temperature: many arid-land geophytes do grow deep, but I was surprised to see that Drimia in Jordan had its bulbs right at the surface. Some plants of similar habitats grow among rocks, which not only keep the soil cooler (as alpine growers know) but also channel moisture into the soil, since any fog or dew condenses on the rocks during the cold nights and runs down. I remember investigating the growth of Alstroemeria umbellata in a talus slope, finding that the sandy soil below the deep layer of loose rock was moist despite there having been no precipitation for a long time. Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…