Nan's remarks are in turn baffling to me. How have you planted them? Is your soil unusual in some way? What kinds of plants do well there? Do you have a lot of rodents in your garden, such as ground squirrels, which eat the bulbs? (Bears also love to eat them, but perhaps they are not common in your garden.) Diana Chapman's Telos Rare Bulbs list has many native bulbs, as does Robin's Hansen Nursery. In addition, mass-market Dutch bulb catalogs offer a number of western American bulbs, almost all of them under the wrong names, but they have pictures. I'll probably send some bulbs to the BX this summer, and last year Jim Barton of Modesto, CA, donated quite a few. I can't think why themids would "have a reputation for being very difficult to grow." Possibly literature from conservation groups suggests this to keep people from digging them in the wild? I grew all of mine from seed originally and they set masses of seed, which is a little hard to clean but I always donate some to exchanges. Mary Sue mentioned the long flowering period of Triteleia ixioides. It seems to open flushes of flowers one after another, which makes the flower head less suitable for cutting than some others. All the themids are great for flower arrangements, very long-lasting. Indeed, a flowering stem detached from the bulb will lie on the ground and complete its flowering and seed maturation just from the moisture in the long stem. If Japanese or modernistic floral design is an interest of yours, you'll find plenty of inspiration in species such as Dichelostemma ida-maia and Triteleia peduncularis. Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA On 6/6/2020 3:05 PM, Nan Sterman wrote: > This is an interesting and baffling email in a few respects. I live in Southern California and the California native bulbs listed are very hard to find for sale. They also have a reputation for being very difficult to grow in general and my experience is the same. To say they are “too easy to grow” is a big surprise to me. Perhaps they are easy in Oregon but not in Southern California though many are native here. If someone knows of sources for bulbs (rather than seeds), I’d love to get that information. > > Nan Sterman > > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…