Hi all, One morning last week, there was frost on the roofs when we awoke. Since autumn is finally coming, it's time to move pots of tender bulbs inside. We've been working on and off for the past week at this. Still, a few things are in bloom. The 5-gal. pot of Hymenocallis caribaea is showing a scape for the first time sine I received it. One of the varieties of Hymenocallis acutifolia that we grow is now blooming, even though we did not set the pots into pans of water for the growing season. The one pot of Hymenocallis puntagordensis is now blooming, as well. One bulb of Cyrtanthus montanus is in flower. These are not getting as large as the bulbs of Cyrtanthus [elatus X montanus] get. The mother pot of Cyrtanthus sanguineus is also putting up a bloom scape. C. obrienii is starting a scape now as well. Numerous Nerine are still in bloom, including NN. angulata, appendiculata, filamentosa, and platypetala. A couple N. filifolia are still blooming, but most of that species have finished. The dwarf species that is NOT gibsonii is still blooming, making a long-running show for its two pots. This one has flowers like a smaller version of angulata or filifolia, only 1 inch (25 mm) across but with peduncles that get no more than 5 to 8 inches tall (12 - 20 cm). The dwarf species that is NOT hessioides is also in flower. It looks like a gracilis, with small pink star-like flowers 3/4 inch across (ca. 18 mm) but with scapes not quite so tall, only about 10 inches (25 cm) high. And finally, only a couple weeks after I dogmatically stated that Nerine bowdenii never blooms until December here, two bulbs of N. bowdenii 'Koen's Hardy' are each sending up a flower bud! They just had to make a liar out of me; not that I'm going to complain much, of course. I hope the other pots of bowdenii wait until December, as their flowers are very welcome at that time of winter. Another very dwarf amaryllid from South Africa, Strumaria tenellum orientalis, is finishing up blooming. It has very small white flowers, maybe 1/2 inch across, on relatively long pedicels. This plant has only one or two fine, thread-like leaves, no more than ca. 4 inches long; they are almost invisible unless you look very closely. I wonder how it manages to grow? It sets plenty of seeds, so I have two pots of blooming seedlings from the two original bulbs I got years ago. They do not seem to make any offsets, so abundant seed production is just about an evolutionary necessity. Crinum x-digweedii, C. erubescens ex Peru, and C. americanum are blooming now, even as we move them into the greenhouses for the winter. Even when grown in saucers to retain water, they do not usually manage to bloom for me. This summer was hotter than usual, with very abundant rainfall. Maybe they liked the heat and humidity! We are in a brief return to hot, humid summer weather, but it will be short-lived. There may be general frosts by this time next week. Happy growing, Jim Shields in central Indiana (USA) 40° N latitude, ca. 83° W longitude ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA