>Outdoors at this time there are quite a few late-autumn crocuses, such as C. speciosus recently discussed, C. tournefortii, and C. boryi. In an even colder climate, a large form of Crocus niveus has just started here. C. hadriaticus 'Purple Heart' opened two days ago. C. cartwrightianus 'Halloween' was in flower on the correct day. >I have Galanthus reginae-olgae that Vlad mentions, though mine isn't a named selection, and Galanthus peshmenii; they aren't in flower yet this year. Here, Galanthus peshmenii is done flowering. There are unnamed forms of G. reginae-olgae in flower, as well as G. reginae-olgae 'Cambridge', a larger-flowered selection. There are quite a few named selections of G. r-o, all difficult to come by in this country, and definitely not cheaply. That's just the tip of the early-flowering snowdrop iceberg. Galanthus plicatus subsp. byzantinus regularly flowers in January in a garden a few miles north of here. (Second week in January, along with Cyclamen coum.) The newly-described Galanthus bursanus is similar but flowers in autumn, with no or barely-developed basal leaves like G. r-o. Galanthus cilicicus can be in flower before the first of the year. The snowdrops collectively labeled Galanthus elwesii var. monostictus Hiemalis Group mostly flower before the end of January here. There are named varieties, like 'Barnes', 'Donald Dims' Early', etc I grow all of these in a frame, covered with plastic sheeting when it gets cold. The drawback to these snowdrops, aside from the expense of the bulbs, which can be considerable, is that here, now that this climate apparently no longer features rain after September, the bulbs need frequent watering in order to get them to flower, but they are increasing well. In addition there are named varieties of Galanthus elwesii like 'Theresa Stone', which is always in flower here by the end of January, though February is its peak month. And there are still others. Bob Nold Denver, Colorado _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>