Diana, you are in northern California while I am in southern British Columbia. The difference in rainfall is considerable, which is why I haven't piped up till now. But perhaps my experience could be faintly useful. When I have only a few Crocus, or very expensive ones, I grow them in pots in a frame. I'm not sure they wouldn't prefer what I do with the rest, however. When I have more than a handful, I consign them to raised beds of road mulch, unsheltered year-round and watered only by rain. They are wet but not soggy from fall through spring. In summer they dry gradually, but the middle and bottom, where the corms hibernate, stay cool and faintly moist. In these conditions, every Crocus I have dared to try has multiplied. Lots of them are on my website. The very easiest and most fecund have been C. dalmaticus Petrovac Strain, C.tommasinianus 'Albus,' C. versicolor, C. vitellinus and C. x jessopae. They are all beautiful and I would be happy to send you starts of them this fall, if you want. Best Paige Paige Woodward paige@hillkeep.ca http://www.hillkeep.ca/