Dear All, We got a late start on the topic of the week last week so hopefully anyone still wanting to comment on Iris will do so. The topic for this week is continuing our journey through the color spectrum of favorite flowers to orange. Once again I suggest, but it isn't mandatory, that people pick five favorites that they can grow successfully. So it will be helpful for readers if posters have details about where they garden in the body of their message or signature. Also I realize that there may be some disagreement about what should be included in orange versus red since there are some flowers that are probably in between these two colors just as there were a couple of yellow votes some might have called orange. I don't think we need to quibble about this. Something could make more than one color list if the person who nominates it wants it to be considered that color. I am finding it extremely difficult to narrow down my choices to five however. I suggested to my husband that he could nominate some of those that almost made my list and he said that would be cheating. There are a number of South African Irids I love with orange flowers, but many of them don't bloom very long so the ones I am selecting last a bit longer. Here goes but not in any particular order of preference: 1. Lachenalia aloides var. aurea--This one from wild collected seed near Paarl doesn't have yellow flowers. They are orange and very striking and the leaves have spots on them and are nice too. 2. Oxalis massoniana--I have a couple of Oxalis obtusa types with nice orange flowers I like, but this species blooms in the fall when it is more welcome since it doesn't have as much competition, has interesting leaves, and can cover a pot with gorgeous blooms. 3. Homeria hybrids--I know these are Moraeas now but this is a way of distinguishing them from the other subgroups. In my garden I have wonderful orange Homerias that have hybridized and bloom for a very long time in spring. 4. Ornithogalum dubium--When it blooms, it has the most gorgeous flowers and it stay in bloom for ages and ages. Paul Tyerman and I have complained about how the bulbs often choose to stay under ground. Last year I bought three different kinds and they bloomed nicely but are sitting out this year. My pot of 4 that I've been growing for a number of years usually has one that comes up, sometimes two. This year something bizarre has happened. It looked like only one was going to make it up, but now it looks like it has divided or something. There are 9 flowering stalks coming from this one bulb. Probably it will bloom its heart out and that will be it. I've never had more than one stalk before. 5. Sandersonia aurantiaca--A number of years ago Dirk Wallace gave a whole lot of these to the IBS BX. I looked it up and decided I probably couldn't grow it, but when Dell wrote the second time asking didn't anyone want it as he still had some left I decided to give it a try. I think anyone could grow this and treat it like a house plant. I have two pots each year and start one several months after the other so I'll have a longer season. I just love those orange bells. Just one honorable mention please. I feel very disloyal picking only South Africans. Last year for the first time I had Lilium pitkinense bloom for the first time. It is a rare Lilium from Sonoma County California and I thought it was really beautiful. Some people say it may be rolled into Lilium pardalinum and if so then I could include that one at the same time since it was another that almost made my list. I hope we hear from a lot of you. Mary Sue Mary Sue Ittner California's North Coast Wet mild winters with occasional frost Dry mild summers