Alberto Castillo wrote, >Who opens the fire? >What about those Eastern European collectors, Jane? When I mention having bulbs from Eastern European collectors, I mean SEED collectors, not bulb merchants. There are, in fact, a couple of Czech bulb merchants who sell wild-dug material, and I do not patronize them. It is more interesting and safer to grow the bulbs from seed, anyway, though one does end up looking at a lot of mysteries when they start flowering, as you can tell from some of my postings. I will fire off a warning on another front, however: Everyone, including me, who has received Chinese-grown bulbs (lilium and fritillaria, mostly) has complained about wildly misnamed stock. I have finally nursed back to health 4 of the 8 purported species of Chinese Fritillaria received a few years ago via Paul Christian and more or less straightened out the names, but for further forays into this branch of the genus I am going to rely on garden-grown seed obtained through exchanges or the Archibalds. Here is another little warning: Paul Christian offers a great many rarities not obtainable elsewhere, but the bulbs tend to be smaller than flowering size and sometimes require intensive care, and the prices are astonishingly high. Bulbs I have received from Janis Ruksans are of better quality, but still very high-priced. There is a certain London-based firm that is the subject of a great many complaints from both customers and suppliers; I don't know if it is appropriate or useful to mention the name here. And here is a warning about myself: I've had some trouble with Narcissus fly and have sent out a few narcissus and galanthus bulbs that were damaged by it the past year or two. I'm trying hard to correct this. Jane McGary Northwest Oregon