Dear Juliet, Welcome to the pbs list. We have a couple of members of our group who live in the North Island of New Zealand and perhaps they will respond to your question about Ixia viridiflora. This is the Ixia that everyone wants to grow because of the amazing turquoise color. I grow it in containers, but it is hit or miss about blooming and this does not seem to be unusual. I've yet to figure out exactly what it needs. And I believe that I am not alone in having difficulty keeping it going. But you are in luck since I understand it does well in New Zealand. Suggestions that have been given on our list in the past that may or may not help you. I've lost all the Ixia viridiflora I've put in the ground even though other Ixias grow fine in my climate. I've grown it from seed as has Jane McGary and it has bloomed in three or four years from seed. It does not expand prolifically like a lot of other Ixias I grow and since it doesn't always bloom and everyone wants it that may be why it is a bit challenging to obtain. I once included seeds and corms of it for someone else when I ordered from Gordon Summerfield in South Africa and that person wrote a few years later asking me if I was going to order again since his success was short lived and he wanted to try them again. A member of another list from Australia accidentally left his dormant pots of this species when young in a greenhouse where they got watered all summer when they were dormant and they thrived which made me start giving mine occasional summer water even though generally the thought is that winter rainfall Ixias should be kept dry when dormant. He also commented that they resented disturbance and that a grower who were selling them lost about a third of them when he dug them up for sale. In South Africa Rachel Saunders reported some people growing this species in pure sand with added fertilizer. Hers planted out in the ground disappeared after about 3 years. Bill Richardson from our list (Victoria, Australia) who specializes in growing Ixia has reported great results with this species in the past and he grows them in the ground! He is actually the only one I've ever heard that can boast of this. Perhaps he will give us all an update about how to grow this bulb successfully. Mary Sue Mary Sue Ittner California's North Coast Wet mild winters with occasional frost Dry mild summers