For you who are interested in what grows in various Mediterranean climates, I live in Pebble Beach, California, less than 100 meters from the ocean on a slope facing sothwest toward the sea. I am in Zone 9, probably Zone 10 except for exceptional winters which occur about once a decade. I currently grow the following bulbs, listed in no particular order. These are outdoors in the ground. Ferraria crispa, Babiana stricta and rubrocyanea, various Lilium, Habranthus tubispathus, Muscari, Chasmanthes floribunda, Ixia maculata, Lapeirosia laxa, Lachenalia mutabilis, Hippeastrum advenum, H. equestre, Hesperanthes, Hermodactylus tuberosus, Canna, Camassia quamash, Calochortus venustus, Moraea, Ipheion uniflora, Scilla peruviana, Homeria, Sisyrinchum californicum, S. angustifolium, Leucojum aestivum, Agapanthus orientalis, allium moly, Clivia miniata, Gladiolus x colvillei, Narcissus, Tricyrtus hirta, Galanthus nivallis, Tigridia pavonia, Zigadenus elegans, Zauschneria, Dracunculus vulgaris, Watsonia, Zepharanthes, Hymenocallis macrostephana, Triteleia ixiodes, Sparaxis, Cyclamen persicum, Schizostylis coccinea and Amaryllis belladonna and hybrids from The Doutt's. I grow tulips but they are little better than annuals as far as bloom goes. The foliage appears for a number of years, but no bloom. My soil has been amended for over twenty years with compost, clippings, leaves and pine needles. The underlying soil is clay and partially decomposed granite. It drains poorly, thus the years of amending it. Our rain generally falls from November to April 15 and averages 18" per year. This rain year (July 1, 2002-July 1, 2003) we have had about 13" with not much more time to catch up. The summers are dry. We seldom see temperatures above 90 degrees F. in summer nor below 30 degrees F. in winter. A prolonged "hot spell" is 3 days. There is considerable fog in the summer with resultant cool temperatures in the 60's. Shirley Meneice