Dear Friends, There has been very little discussion of Hyacinths on this list. On the one hand nothing special, but still a fairly easy and reliable hardy bulbs for my climate in Kansas City. Not much news seems to come around except for the 'new ' 'black' 'Midnight Mystic' variety. I plants six bulbs a few years ago of plain old pink and blue flowered forms. They are in the coldest part of the garden that gets very little sun until it is high in the sky in mid-spring. After 3 or 4 years in the garden, this year they are doing something odd. Or is it? Each bulb is sending up its single big bud, but about half (so far) have sent up a second nearly full size bud 5 or 6 inches away and 3 or 4 small (pencil size or less) shoots around the original main shoots. In prior years each bulbs has made one shoot and a full head of flowers, only. Now a sudden multiplication and wide spreading. Is this normal? Dos it take hyacinths 3 or 4 years to settle in and start to multiply? is it typical for them to spread 5 or 6 inches around? They are still pushing up new growth, but I am anticipating a much bigger flower show in a few weeks. Does this match your experiences? A little surprised. Jim W. -- Dr. James W. Waddick 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 USA Ph. 816-746-1949 Zone 5 Record low -23F Summer 100F +