Mary Sue listed some of the rarer Brodiaea species she does not grow and asked who was growing them besides Diana Chapman. >Brodiaea minor--Commonly known as low brodiaea or dwarf brodiaea, this species, endemic to >California, is found in clay gravelly soil in grasslands and foothill woodlands in the hot foothills of >the Sacramento Valley. Flowers are pale bluish to lilac with narrow petals and the tube pinched >in just below the petals. The staminodes are erect, white, held close to the stamens, inrolled >with a notched tip. Another short species, this one blooms from March to April. This is the one >that I have not been successful with but Diana grows. I have been growing this for about 4 years and find that it flowers well here in a bulb frame that is covered November through mid-March. It is in my usual soil of sand, pumice, and loam and is fertilized with liquid fertilizer on the same schedule as other bulbs. Diana mentioned that it inhabits seasonally very wet sites, so probably it enjoys the very wet winter conditions in this particular frame, which I reserve for plants that tolerate more winter moisture and occasional dampness in summer. If I can be forgiven for transgressing species boundaries here, and in reply to Diana's comments on height, I'll just mention there is a stupendously large Triteleia peduncularis flowering in the bulb frame now -- a self-sown one that has pulled its bulb down deep in the plunge medium. It seems that in general, the deeper the bulbs of this group can get, the larger the inflorescence; this one, with its long pedicels, is about 14 inches (35 cm) in diameter on a scape 24 inches (60 cm) tall. Maybe that is one reason for the lovely huge Brodiaea elegans Mary Sue is growing in a large, deep pot with, as I recall, a lemon tree. Of course, reaching over surrounding vegetation has an effect too. I sometimes wonder, also, if some of my bulbs grow taller because of the lower light conditions in northern Oregon as compared to California and the Mediterranean. On the other hand, I seem to have more compact plants than are typical for English growers, which may reflect light levels or the fact that my plants are generally grown "harder," experiencing lower winter temperatures and probably higher temperatures in summer. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon