Hi Jim, We saw this species in bloom in South Africa in August-September when we visited. I see now I never got my pictures to the wiki. It doesn't bloom as early here in Northern California as it does in Southern California, but it is one of the earlier Southern African spring bloomers. So it normally blooms late winter, early spring. It is definitely a winter grower and would start going dormant in the wild when it gets hot and dry. It sounds like you need to get it into growth sooner so it will bloom before your hot weather sets in. Your experience with it quitting when the heat kicked in is true of a lot of South African Irids. It is the reason why some people don't think it is a good idea to start winter growers from seed in spring. The ones that go dormant when it gets hot may not have developed enough of a storage organ to last until the next season. Mary Sue