Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org> a *crit Several years ago I remember a discussion on the IBS forum about when to > start watering winter growing bulbs. > Dear Mary Sue and All, Thanks for bringing up again this interesting subject which is quite relevant at the moment for us in the northern hemisphere. There seems to be a lot of conflicting evidence, which means that one cannot generalise. But some basic rules can be modified for each of our local conditions. As a general rule take good notice of the climat of the geographic origin of the species. Observe the behaviour of the plant in your own conditions. There are several south African species which "give up hope" if they receive no water before early autumn (here end of September) and go dormantfor the whole winter (Ferraria, Freesia alba). Some mediterranean genera thrive on some bursts of summer rain Moraea polystachya, Cyclamen, Lycoris, Amaryllis belladonna, autumn flowering Crocus. Some corms or bulbs may surprise us by already forming shoots even when kept dry, which is a sign that planting has been retarded too much. Some South african species grow very well with a heavy rain the end of the summer but also do well when planted (or watered) in Octobre. For example Gladiolus splendens, Moraea simulans in the ground received heavy rain early september and the first is already 30cm high and the M simulans has leaves of 100cm long. No doubt that the corms these early growers will develop better and will be to a good size before an eventual frost may disturb their growth in January. I know that Dave Fenwick will get back at me, saying that in his conditions late planting (or late watering) will give longer growth, well into his relativily cool summer, and produces bigger corms. But this does not apply to our conditions here where the weather can be already agressively hot in June. Was it not that Jim Duggan who terminates his selling period of South African species by the end of September, which I thought was a good idea (confirming that early planting was to be preferred). I was surprised to read that now Jim says that later planting finally makes no difference. Jim canb you explain a bit more please? May be some soputh african partipants can enlighten us as to what are the best rainfall patterns to produce the most optimum flowering for a given speicies in their natural habitats. Kind regards Lauw de Jager BULB'ARGENCE, 30300 Fourques, France Région Provence/Camargue; (Climat zone 9a Mediterranean) Site http//http://www.bulbargence.com/ "GUIDE POUR BULBES MÉDITERRANÉENS" 116 pages, 400 photos, prix 10 E CATALOGUE D'ÉTÉ' (SUMMERCATALOG) est disponible, EXPEDITION bulbes continuera jusqu'à mi-octobre (espèces à floraison automnale sont replantées)