We're bracing for snow here in Maryland, too, although it's not predicted to be anything like what Ernie will probably get.Here too only a few snowdrops (Galanthus e. elwesii) are up in the lawn. In the coldframes I've had snowdrops in bloom since mid-November, and around New Year's Day little Iris cretensis was blooming with some of its bigger congeners.The only activity on the daffodil front right now is the flowering of one of Roy Herold's hoop petticoat sorts from the BX 367 offering of his mixed seedlings - this is getting the window sill treatment this year. Not a bulb, but providing really lovely flowers in one of the frames, are the two German Helleborus niger cultivars 'Jacob' and 'Josef Lemper'. These don't need the frame, but the flowers develop so much better under cover.And what else is there to do when I'm bored: how about getting excited about the peony seed germinating in little zip lock bags? A friend gave me a well developed infructescence of Paeonia obovata bursting with seeds back in September. Today those seeds are rooting freely and raising all sorts of great expectations! Jim McKenneyMontgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where there is no doubt that this is frost flower season. _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/