Dear Dave: Tulbaghia simmleri should be able to survive outdoors with you in Windsor. I know of many plantings of Tulbaghia in Sonoma, just north of the town and quite a lot higher up in the hills. Give them full sun, but if in doubt, try to avoid the early sun, but otherwise full sun, say from 9.00 am on. The fragrance I would suspect would be easier to detect when temperatures are warmer, frequently warmth is needed to disperse the fragrance. Try towards the end of the afternoon, while the plants are still in the sun. Do not overfeed these plants, one feeding, in say late February, should be enough. I have not read of any tests being carried out regarding this, but my experience tells me that well fertilized plants, while making lots of foliage and not necessarily producing more flowers, tend not to have as much fragrance. Cheers, John E. Bryan DaveKarn@aol.com wrote: > > Hello all ~ > > Recent mention of tulbaghia on the listserv has prompted me to ask about the > following. > > I bought some Tulbaghia simmleri (fragrans) several years ago and have them > planted in a pot and growing outdoors with very little care here in Northern > California. I babied them indoors the first season but didn't get back home > until late January the following year so they survived outdoors through some > frosty weather that damaged the foliage and stems of flowers then in bloom. With > warmer weather, the plants renewed the foliage for the following season. > > The plants have bloomed every winter since receipt (and are currently in > bloom with several stems of flowers) but, for the life of me, I cannot detect any > fragrance (in the coolness of winter or in the warmth indoors). Now, I know > my olfactory apparatus still works because I seem able to detect what others > appear not to. Thus, the question becomes one of why can't I (or my wife, for > that matter) detect any fragrance?? Assuming physiology is not at fault here, > are some of these plants just not fragrant? That is, as a species, is that > trait not universal? I originally bought the plants (from Monocot in England) > because I had read they were "intensely" fragrant and can only assume they were > divisions from obviously fragrant stock. Thus, I am puzzled why these plants > do not exhibit the fragrance that originally generated the epithet > "fragrans." > > Dave Karnstedt > Windsor, California, USA > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php