Whilst I have a minute - a few comments on Jane's excellent crocus notes. To me the joy of growing crocus is largely down to bringing-on as many species as possible from wild-collected seed - the variation in seedlings is incredible and you get the added bonus of good set from your resulting potfull of distinct clones. I agree that many of the more interesting species are difficult to get hold of, a few almost impossible, but many are freely available from the various societies, including the Crocus Group in the UK. The likes of Jim Archibald, Vlastimil Pilous and others also make seed available, as do some of the more responsible botanic gardens (e.g. Goteborg. I love the Middle Eastern species and they seem to do very well here. Crocus aleppicus grew from seed from at least three distinct collections as well as a Mike Salmon accession. I love it - a delicate and charming species flowering in October. As one of the Middle Eastern species it certainly appreciates a warm and dry dormancy, but otherwise seems to present no problems. Crocus vitellinus LB325 is lovely and reliably flowers in mid-fall - the commercial Dutch stocks seem to flower very much later. A related species which also does well is Crocus hyemalis - some of the collections of these species are confused but easily sorted out when the plants flower - usually 3 years after sowing. The other Middle Eastern gems are Crocus moabiticus, hermoneus and pallasii. I am indebted to Jane for the former as seed and corms - probably the most spectacular crocus in my collection. Crocus veneris PB181 and Crocus cyprius are two small but striking gems from Cyprus, albeit very difficult to get hold of and slow to increase. The latter goes back as quickly as forward and I have never had seed. I also adore Crocus karduchorum (NOT kotschyanus var leucopharynx) and have a number of seedlings coming on nicely, although it disappeared quickly from the garden. Two Per Wendelbo introductions that are firm favorites are Crocus gilanicus and Crocus caspius - the latter a very robust species well worth growing and easy from seed. The Crocus biflorus complex seems to be expanding at an alarming rate and wonderful recent introductions include Crocus biflorus ssp. artvinensis WK02, Crocus biflorus ssp. fibroannulatus HKEP9361 and Crocus wattiorum HKEP9548 - the latter especially stunning. Crocus paschei, Crocus leitchlinii KPPZ90148 and Crocus kerndorffiorum HKEP9010 are also little seen treasures. I seem to have numerous wild collections of Crocus kotschyanus ssp. suworowianus and these do very well in the garden and in pots - much earlier than but superficially similar to Crocus vallicola, which has also settled down in the garden. The latter does best for me of all the alpine crocuses, others which vary between success and abject failure, usually quickly ending in the latter, include Crocus alatavicus, Crocus michelsonii, Crocus pelistericus, Crocus scardicus and Crocus scharojanii. Strangely the natural hybrid between Crocus abantensis and angustifolius (x paulinae) does really well. I suspect the higher alpine crocuses just don't like our hot and humid summers. J. Dr John T Lonsdale, 407 Edgewood Drive, Exton, Pennsylvania 19341, USA Home: 610 594 9232 Cell: 484 678 9856 Fax: 801 327 1266 Visit "Edgewood" - The Lonsdale Garden at http://www.edgewoodgardens.net/ USDA Zone 6b