Jim: Theories are fun. Sometimes they lead to conclusions. Other times, they lead to more theories. I was really worried this spring when my spring-foliage Lycoris leaves were dessimated, for the most part, by a very late, very hard freeze, after 4-5 weeks of very spring-like weather. Still, bloom came for my L. squamigera, L. sanguinea, L. longituba, and L. sprengeri in that order. I shouldn't really count L. sanguinea as only 3-4 stalks arose out of a potential of hundreds. On the others, the show was not all that spectacular, but stalks were normal sized, I believe, because we had adequate moisture through the spring. Enter chapter two, and a theory, not my own, but one I am considering. Through Friday, we had experienced about 18 straight days without rain and temperatures over 90°F, up to 104°F during that whole period. Enter Saturday, and we get .5-.75 inch of rain spread throughout the day and Sunday. I go out this morning and a number of new L. longituba and L. sprengeri are poking up new stalks. I'm also seeing a few L. chinensis. Was it just time, or did the rain trigger it? Thing is, if you look at these alone, you might conclude it is possible the surge of moisture contributed to pushing up new stalks. Problem. I also had winter protected fall foliage Lycoris that bloomed pretty well for me this season to this point; L. xhaywardii x L. longituba (shouldn't need protection, but it is in the protected row), L. xhaywardii (what a show!!), L. houdyshelii (my first time), L. radiata var. pumila, L. straminea, and an unknown cream white. None of these suffered from the spring freeze. Still after the rain, and after the hybrid and L. xhawardii looked completely done, I have new stalks of them both coming up today, mostly from spots that are not secondary bloom locations. All the others mentioned are putting up new stalks this morning, too. Meanwhile a few others that had shown no activity to now are pushing up new stalks today. As an aside, but significant to the coming theory, my potted rain lilies are sending up a flush of bloom. The complication with just considering moisture with these is that I had done a long slow drip soaking of that particular Lycoris bed a week ago, and it wasn't suffering stress in the first place, being under about 2" of mulch. The rain lilies are in with other potted items that need regular water, so they have been getting overhead water twice a day. Is it just water that these plants are responding to, if not sheer coincidence? I can't remember who has brought this up before. It may have been in another forum. What qualities might exist with rain water that don't exist in ground water, lake water, or treated water? What about ozone? What about other combinations of Hydrogen and Oxygen, however minute the percentage? Could these qualities or others unique to rainwater influence Lycoris bloom and other plants? Who knows. Thoughts I consider while I enjoy flowers in bloom. Mr. Kelly M. Irvin 10850 Hodge Ln Gravette, AR 72736 USA 479-787-9958 USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 6a/b mailto:kelly@irvincentral.com http://www.irvincentral.com/ James Waddick wrote: > Dear all, > On September 9 I wrote: > > > Last night we had almost 1 1/4 inch of rain. Maybe too much of it ran > off, but some soaked in. Will this bring a new flush of Lycoris bloom > as I think or was the spring freeze too damaging to make a > difference, now.? >