Finally, Romulea seedlings! R. hirsuta is the first species to germinate - that's over 4 months. I await the others. Watsonia species and Ornithogalum (only 1 species, from Namibia) germinated after a month, Sparaxis after 2, Gladiolus and Lachenalias after 3. Nearly all were sown outdoors but protected from rain in the latter part of September. All were kept moist from below with rain water. A late December sowing of 9 Pelargonium species (mostly geophytic) germinated in three weeks. They received otherwise identical treatment. Lesson - it's very difficult to predict germination times. Andrew