Well, I just received my copy of Scott Ogden's Garden Bulbs for the South, 2nd Edition, (Timber Press) yesterday and have now managed to skim through as well as read a few sections. For all those who find Thad Howard's Bulbs for Warm Climates a must-have reference, this will be an indispensable complement to that. It's not quite twice as many pages as the 1st Edition, and there are many more photos, that are on the pages where the species are described, plus there seem to be many more species in each family described, and in greater detail it seems. For those who liked his almost story-like style of writing in the 1st Edition, you will be disappointed by the new edition. I, however, am not. That was the one thing about the 1st edition that made it difficult for me to use; I had to read through the text to find the description of a species I was looking for, and it was often buried in the middle of a narrative about several different species. This edition is much better about describing each species in a genus, one by one. I also think he has done a good job of incorporating a huge amount of new data and knowledge that he has accumulated over the past 13 years since the 1st edition including the greatly increased ability to hunt down many of these barely mentioned species around the world and try them out (in Austin, Texas of all places, my hometown!). I especially love how he tells the stories/origins of the more well-known species or cultivars in each genus, including the best guess on what the parent species are. It's also one of the very few books that tells you what will and will not grow in the sometimes difficult warm humid, as opposed to the warm dry (mediterranean), regions. And it tells you how to get them to grow and flower. And it's very up to date. In his sources (which almost looks like he stole it from Jim Shields website), he lists a number of nurseries of members (or former members?) of this list like Kevin Preuss, Kelly Irvin, Bill Welch, Roy Sachs, Russell Stafford, Tony Avent, Ellen Hornig, Jim Shields, Diana Chapman, Cameron & Rhoda McMaster, Dirk Wallace, Lauw de Jager, Dash Geoghegan, Paige Woodward, Rachel & Rod Saunders, as well as listing the Pacific Bulb Society, Mary Sue Ittner, and the list subscription email address! He even describes how evergreen Hymenocallis seeds will sprout soon after planting them, whereas deciduous species seeds will just sit all winter until it gets warm again before they sprout... --Lee Poulsen Pasadena, California, USA, USDA Zone 10a