Hi Ken and Bill, Brunsvigia josephinea has flowered for me from the beginning of the final month of summer to mid way through the first month of Autumn. Typically it flowers from the 2nd to 3rd weeks of the final month of summer. I live in a relatively winter dry - summer wet climate with a sandy loam soil. Bill is correct in pointing to the occasional mid summer heavy rain storm for bringing B josephinea into leaf during summer - particularly if there is a good temperature gradient between the heat of summer and a cooling break with rainfall for a week or two. If the summer has been mild with lower temperatures than normal and autumn has arrived a few weeks early - there is a good chance that josephinea will go into leaf and not flower that season. Early summer rainfall doesn't usually appear to influence earlier flowering unless the strong heat of summer is broken with a marked cooler period for a week or two. My advice is to leave B josephinea in a dry state until early August, and hand water it twice if a substantial rain storm hasnt occurred by this time - your garden bed drainage seems ideal. Cheers Jim Lykos ----- Original Message ----- From: Ken To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org Sent: Friday, August 29, 2008 1:53 AM Subject: [pbs] summer water for Brunsvigia josephinae? a fellow bulb enthusiast suggested that perhaps I should give my Brunsvigia josephinae an occasional drink during the summer ... but then somewhat retracted that suggestion concerned that he might be 'blamed' if the bulb rotted. My bulbs are in the ground, light but rocky clay, on a slope. I generally do not irrigate them ... although I suppose they have extensive roots which may obtain some moisture from the deeper soil levels. We generally receive no measurable rain from April through October here in San Diego, although last year, a freak summer thunderstorm did dump nearly an inch one August day. The top 18" of soil is usually bone dry. Any suggestions from the experts out there? My 3 B.josephinae scapes are entering their 9th day of growth. Here's a link to some shots at 1, 4 & 8 days of growth: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amarguy/ Ken San Diego _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/