Mark, Wild is better than gardens. The redwoods in northern California. No more need be said. The Siskiyou Mountains along the border between Oregon and California. Lots of endemics. Every road has different flowers. If you see something in flower, photograph it instead of waiting for a better one, because you might not see another one. You could spend the whole season there. I saw Trillium rivale in flower March 1, and erythroniums follow soon after. April and May are fantastic - more trilliums, erythroniums, iris, alliums, calochortus, with the air perfumed by hillsides of Rhododendron occidentale in bloom. The summer brings lilies and alpine plants at higher elevations. There is a wildflower show in a community hall in Glide, Oregon, on the last full weekend of April every year. http://www.wmni.net/magyan/GWS.htm Either go there first to see what the plants should look like, or go there after to identify everything you've photographed. There is one sample of everything from lichen to trees, and endangered plants are represented by pictures. Everything is labelled. Photographers are allowed in early. There is a wildflower hotline for early spring desert flowers, but I'll leave someone else to write about that because I haven't been yet. -- Diane Whitehead Victoria, British Columbia, Canada maritime zone 8 cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually) sandy soil