Well, the rain today has brought up one of the rain lilies, that old favorite Zephyranthes grandiflora. Freshly opened flowers of this species are very beautiful: the color is hard to describe, but rose pink with a warm flush of something else comes close. And there is something very appealing about the texture of the tepals of newly opened flowers. Both this color and the texture remind me of some raspberry sherbets. Fully mature flowers are handsome, but by then the color has shifted to a cold and rather hard pink. Another Zephyranthes note: several years ago I planted bulbs of Zephyranthes atamasco in the protected frame. One of them bloomed the following year, but for the last two years there has been no sign of any of them above ground. It’s very dry there, and since this protected frame is “devoted” to summer dormant bulbs, I don’t water things there much if at all. Earlier this year while working with some of the other plants in the frame I accidentally poked a finger into the Zephyranthes site and discovered that the bulbs are still there. They are about the size of a big lemon seed or a little bigger and without roots to speak of. But they are sound and seemingly healthy. I dug out as many as I could find; they are now soaking. I’ll plant them in a pot for the remainder of this growing season, and in the late autumn find a permanent place for them in the ground where they can get plenty of moisture. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7, where Agapanthus 'Storm Cloud' is matching the weather today. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/