Dear All, Sorry to be so late in responding to a number of these, but just haven't had time. I have all the South African field guides and I used to use them a lot, but after the Color Encyclopedia came out find myself using it more because it has so much more information. Once you get an idea of the different areas it covers you can easily pick up from the code where each species grows and what it may encounter growing there. Usually information about the soils each species grow in is included in the species summary. Since I am in a Mediterranean climate I grow more of the winter rainfall plants, but agree that both of Elsa Pooley's books are worth having. What I'd really like (this is addressed to our South African participants) is a field guide for that colder winter rainfall area, the Roggeveld. IBSA members are always writing about the amazing bulbs that grow there. The Nieuwoudtville guide that Diane mentions is my favorite. The pictures are very good and there are more geophytes pictured in it than any of the others. I'd like to remind everyone that Jane McGary started a wiki page for Reference Books. http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… A number of us have added our favorite books to it and any of the rest of you can add ones that you love to the list. Mary Sue