Since I have had the experience of trying to shift bulbs from the opposite hemisphere, and have been moderately successful (maybe 2/3 of the attempts), I have always wondered if it would have been easier with the ones I failed with if I could have only grown them in those rare but existent climates where it basically never gets hot in the summer. Places like the coastal Pacific Northwest of the US in Washington state or northern Oregon, or San Francisco city, or that area near Monterey Bay where they grow artichokes, lettuce, and broccoli all summer long for the produce market, or far northwestern California along the coast in places like Eureka or Crescent City, or coastal British Columbia in Canada, or Scotland to name a few. Maybe we could contract with some of our members living in those areas to switch our imported bulbs from the southern hemisphere for us. 😊 --Lee Poulsen San Gabriel Valley, California, USA - USDA Zone 10a Latitude 34°N, Altitude 340 ft/100 m > >> A vexing problem when obtaining bulbs from the southern hemisphere is that of acclimatizing them to a reversal of the seasons. Often they are shipped just before growth is beginning in the southern hemisphere and one must choose between allowing growth to commence and hope they will tolerate the higher or lower temperatures involved in this "off-season" period, or attempting to prolong their dormancy until the proper season arrives and hope they do not become too desiccated (as is more likely to happen in very young bulbs). Our experience has been with winter-growing bulbs and we have tried both methods with mixed and often unhappy results. Some general principles have been derived. >> >> When imported bulbs are allowed to begin growth out of season, their growing period is usually short as they will go dormant as heat increases and, I believe, especially when night time temperatures remain elevated (and some will be prone to rot if their soil remains moist at this time. As a consequence, their following resting period is also abbreviated --- perhaps only two or three months --- before their winter finally arrives. Restarting them after so short a dormancy can result in poor growth or none at all. (One very fine Gethyllis was given up as a lost cause when it made no appearance at all the first winter, but has since thrived and multiplied.) >> _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net https://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> PBS Forum https://…