On 19 Jan 04 at 10:13, Mary Sue Ittner wrote: > This week's topic is your favorite five (or more) yellow flowered > geophytes. 1. Iris winogradowii 2. Beauverdia sellowiana (Ipheion sellowianum, aka something else) 3. Eranthis hyemalis 4. Gladiolus dalenii, yellow form 5. Lilium pumilum(?) I'm a sucker for soft yellow flowers, and the iris and gladiolus in my list certainly come under that heading. Unfortunately, Gladiolus dalenii is just not quite hardy to do well in my garden; I'm not sure if I still have it. Iris winogradowii lives in pots; mine were grown from seed, some from a contact in Poland, others derived from a single bulb bought years ago from Ed Lohbrunner. Beauverdia sellowiana was given to me by Don Elick. It's too tender to thrive out of doors, so is also pot-bound. It's the anomalous tetramerous form I have, and its late winter flowers never fail to please. Eranthis hyemalis is a favorite. It's tough and indestructible, absolutely foolproof -- if you can establish it. It doesn't seem to like light soils, preferring soils with good body in semi-shaded positions. Easiest way of establishing it is to move it when it's in flower. The last item is a small lily that I grew from seed; I lost the label and am not sure of its identity. It's a dainty thing, faithfully coming up and flowering under conditions of total neglect. The flowers are a bright yellow, with reflexed tepals a la L. martagon. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada "To co-work is human, to cow-ork, bovine."