Most of the existing plantings at the Chicago Botanic Garden were purchased years ago from wholesalers as Galanthus nivalis. We have the most wonderful, if frustrating to inventory, mix of species ranging from those with very narrow foliage typical of G. nivalis to plants with very broad foliage, arrangement of the leaves feature many of the characteristics cited in the introduction. Flowering is also very variable as to size, shape and timing; as is fragrance. In the Chicago region, autumn of 2002 was unseasonably warm, and long. Imagine the surprise when a number of the clumps of bulbs flowered that autumn for the first time. In the mix of species sent us over time we apparently have gotten some of the fall blooming species (I'm surprised that they survive our winters). Now for the 'dumb' question of the day. In all of the years of hybridizing Galanthus, have there been any reports of plants with yellow petals instead of white? Are Galanthus self incompatible? ... the real question is has anybody tried selfing the yellow flowered cultivars in an effort to bring out other recessive genes (assuming the yellow color is a recessive trait)? Boyce Tankersley btankers@chicagobotanic.org in the very cold, definitely frozen upper Midwest USA where green flags fly at all of the ponds and lakes signifying the ice is thick enough to hold a grown adult. The good news is temperatures are not expected to dip below 0 degrees F this week. The bad news is we aren't forecast to get above 32 degrees F either. Not a hardy bulb in sight but lots of snowflakes falling from the sky. Absolutely green with jealousy at all of the wonderful reports of bulbs in flower.