As I have written before we have been a bit sun deprived in Northern California since some time in February with measurable rain most days and sometimes a lot of it. Roads are closed, hillsides are sliding, and a lot of my favorite bulbs have been reduced to mush or worse disease. So it was with great rejoicing that we saw the sun on Thursday and learned we'd see it again on Friday and then have more rain on Saturday and Sunday before a potential change in the weather pattern next week bringing our more typical spring weather for this time of the year. I've been watching some Tulipa 'Little Princess' I got from the BX last summer courtesy of Cathy Craig. Mark McDonough had given this tulip rave reviews when he wrote about dwarf tulips for the topic of the week. I couldn't believe how many I got when my package arrived from Dell and how big they looked. Still I wasn't sure they would bloom in my climate. I prechilled them and for a long time it just looked like leaves and no flowers this year. Then buds appeared and I began hoping they would hold out until the weather improved. The turning point seems to be when they open. Before that rain doesn't seem to be a problem. Afterwards here in California (unlike in Holland or apparently Australia) they fall over, the petals fall off or turn unattractive. On Thursday after my hike I rushed to look. By that time the sun was gone and it was overcast, but it was still warm and that perfect light for photography, bright but no shadows. Talk about dazzling. I was thrilled with these bulbs. Thank you, thank you, Cathy and Dell. The next day they were equally beautiful. It's raining again today. So in spite of the fact that Mark has pictured these on the wiki already, I just had to add my pictures of the same. http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… On Thursday I also took some pictures of my Tulipa batalinii. This one has got to be one of my favorites, not only because it is so beautiful, but because I have been able to save it year after year and with 4-6 weeks of prechilling it returns and blooms nicely. Offsets are relatively quick to bloom so most years I'm able to give a blooming pot away to a friend. Many years ago I ordered some cultivars that were supposed to be more orange and red. I could never tell much difference in them; they all looked yellow to me with maybe an orange tinge. This year however, the descendents are much more colorful. Maybe the color has something to do with the weather? I added pictures of these two even though we had them pictured already. They just looked so beautiful with the nice light behind them. http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… I was grateful for the two beautiful days in a row (even though by Friday afternoon again there was some light rain and its wet today.) Mary Sue