Dear Mary, It appears that fire does stimulate some geophytes to bloom. Although smoke seems to be one of the factors involved, additional light and extra nutrients available are also play a role. If an area has a lot of vegetation a fire removes that vegetation and a lot of things that couldn't grow and bloom before now have the space and light they need to succeed. For some plants they will continue to grow and bloom until this changes so they may bloom in years following the fire until the area grows back. Obviously plants in this category could do fine in a garden if you are giving them the light and nutrients they need. On the other hand, a number of friends in South Africa have told me that there are some things that only bloom after a fire or may rarely bloom except if there is a fire. They come up after a fire and then are never seen again until the next fire. Perhaps it is the smoke that operates in this case. We visited some areas that had fires on our recent trip and there were some things in evidence (blooming) that no one knew were there. Rod and Rachel and Bob and I hiked near where the Saunders have property and where there had been a fire. There were two things we saw that they told us were especially fire sensitive. One was Moraea ramossissima. I purchased corms of this a number of years ago and when they arrived a note was included, "shy bloomer." I thought, oh great. I planted them out and have never seen them again. These plants we saw weren't in bloom quite yet, but they were going to bloom and there was an amazing number of very large plants (plants generally 50 to 120cm high). Rod and Rachel said next year they won't come up at all, but will wait for the next fire. There was also a patch of Knifophia in wondrous bloom that they also predicted would not bloom next year. So when you see in books, blooming only after a fire, it may be true for some plants or mostly true, but there may be others that do well in cultivation. I've been told that some Watsonia species are fire sensitive and may come up and only a few may bloom most years, but after a fire almost all of them are in bloom. The Watsonias I grow are generally very reliable however. Cyrtanthus is another genus that has species listed that supposedly mostly bloom after fires. Rachel and Rod suggested we could try pouring smoke water over our plants to see if that would bring about blooming in plants that normally do not come up and bloom. I asked if they had ever tried it and they said no. I tried smoke water in a couple of germination trials and although I think it was really helpful with the Ericas I never thought it made much difference in my bulbs. I heard someone suggest adding wood ash would help and have added that to pots without seeing any difference. And I think when I once asked before if anyone had found adding smoke water brought about blooming in shy bloomers no one reported any experiences that it had. There are always species I am successful growing and flowering that I shouldn't be able to it so sometimes it might be worth trying. Can anyone report a fire sensitive plant that blooms reliably for them? I was surprised to see on that web site Brian sent us to that Freesias were listed as something needing fire to sprout. That hasn't been my experience. I think Mary's question is a really good one and I know when I read only flowers after a fire I wonder if it is worth trying. Anyone out there get Moraea ramosissima to flower for them every year. Mary Sue