Thanks, all, for your varied contributions to this question about the birthdate of Lilium Enchantment. I've been busy on this front, too, and have come up with what I will accept as the definitive statement; it comes from Jan De Graaff himself, writing in the RHS Lily Year Book for 1953 (p.27): "It is remarkable that from these Lilies, raised from seed planted in 1942, I got 'Enchantment', and this year I had 50,000 saleable bulbs." So John Bryan's guesstimate was right on the money! Jane, your comments about rarely seeing Hemerocallis fulva in flower reminded me of something similar. I listed Lilium hansonii among my favorite 5 yellow flowered bulbs. During the teens and through the '30's of the twentieth century, David Griffiths, who was the USDA's bulb guru and was acitvely invloved in establishing bulb culture in the Pacific Northwest, noted that Lilium hansonii was easily grown at commercial levels at the Bellingham station, but they rarely saw it in bloom : late frosts generally killed the flower buds. I try to remember things like that for those times when I start to think that those of you in dry summer areas have all the advantages. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net Montgomery County, Maryland, zone 7, where the only crocus up are the vitreous shells of some Crocus laevigatus which started before the cold got here.