I think the problem with Jim Waddick's crocuses not spreading by seed is that most cultivars offered by the Dutch bulb merchants and their agents are sterile clones that never set seed. It's very frustrating when one plants them and hopes for them to spread freely, but they don't! When I came to Colesbourne in 2003 we planted a few thousand corms of C. tommasinianus cultivars, with the hope that they'd form the source of a free-sowing population - but they're all still exactly where they were planted (except where moles have pushed them about a bit). Very disappointing. Now I am diligent in collecting seed from the original plantings of C. tommasinianus here, and strewing it out in the areas where I'd like to see sheets of colour. A conspicuous exception is 'Yalta', a lovely selection by Janis Rukans that appears to be a hybrid betweem C. vernus and C. tommasinianus but produces seed freely (though I haven't seen what its seedlings look like yet). Otherwise, as Roland mentions, you need to obtain a stock of wild-origin or at least wild-type plants, and raise them from seed. John Grimshaw Visit John Grimshaw's Garden Diary http://johngrimshawsgardendiary.blogspot.com/ Dr. John M. Grimshaw Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP Tel. 01242 870567