After reading Diana's excellent summary of subalpine and inland Calochortus species, I'm somewhat amazed that I've been able to grow any of them. My climate, southeast of Portland, Oregon, at 1600 feet/500m elevation in the Cascades foothills, is not particularly cold: most winters it doesn't go below 15 F/-8 C, though about one winter in four is colder. I have everything from C. catalinae (southern California coastal) to C. bruneaunis in the same frame, treated the same way, so perhaps these inland species are more adaptable than we may think -- as long as some climate control can be maintained, here consisting of limiting overhead moisture (moisture rising from the soil beneath is constant in winter, and unavoidable in my system). Some specific comments on Diana's notes: >Calochortus leichtlinii - one of the more vigorous species I grow. Calochortus bruneaunis --- This species occurs mainly in the mountain >ranges of the Great Basin, growing in very dry, cold conditions with very >high light intensity. It doesn't get any of that here, but it has been flowering faithfully, rather late in the season, for 6 or 7 years. I don't think it's suffering in the typical low light of a western Oregon winter, since the stems remain upright. It's definitely the happiest Rocky Mountain/Great Basin species I grow. Calochortus excavatus --- This lovely species superficially resembles >both C. leichtlinii and C. bruneaunis, and comes from a very restricted >area on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada in its southern end, around >Bishop and the Owens Valley. This, too, comes from very harsh desert >conditions with cold winters. I was surprised when C. excavatus flowered here last spring, probably 7 years frow sowing. It does not seem vigorous but has survived. This gives me hope for C. kennedyi and C. striatus, now present here as 3-year-old seedlings. >Calochortus subalpinus --- This species is found in mountain meadow >habitats in the Cascade mountains of Oregon and Washington, where, unlike >the high altitude Mariposas, it occupies a range that receives very heavy >rainfall which occurs mostly in winter, but it is also exposed to summer >rains. Actually, winter precipitation where this species grows is mostly in the form of (very deep) snow. I have not seen it below the usual winter snow line (i.e., where continuous snow cover begins) It's saturated in spring after snowmelt, and brief summer thunderstorms. The soils where it grows are volcanic and, where I've seen it, extremely rocky and well drained. I've never been able to germinate the seed of this or of another nearly local plant, C. macrocarpus. Good thing I can drive for an hour or so and see them in the wild! Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA