> Cardiocrinum photos he did in his garden. > > Wow! I think the rest of you will enjoy these, too. Take a look at: > > http://www.pbase.com/danielweil/cardiocrinum/ I have just flowered this cardiocrinum, for the first time. It rather unexpectedly flowered, in its second season with me, in a 9" pot, all of 6' tall and with 25 flowers. It needed a tripod support in winds a few weeks back. I did wonder if the irregular watering and temperatures, not helped by our marked seasonal changes, drought, and now hose ban, had affected the flower shape, as mine too have this inward curving of the petals, particularly the top pair either side of the top centre petal. Maybe it is typical of this species as I don't recall C. giganteum showing such marked petal curving. The previous 2 forms of C. giganteum? I had, flowered several weeks apart, 1 flowered from the top down, the other from the bottom up. C. cathayanum, for me, opened in the middle of the spike first, the top and bottom flowers opening a day or two later. A flower spike that opens from the bottom up, to me always seems much more elegant. A large split in the stem when it was < 2' tall, does not seem to have adversely troubled it. It has 3 offshoots, for continuity, and no doubt will have copious seed if past experience is anything to go by. Brian Whyer, Buckinghamshire, England, zone ~8 "Some" light rain today; the first for several weeks.