By the way, if I seem to be in grumpy old man mode today, let me say this in my own defense: my morning tour of the garden, the garden nearing peak time for Fritillaria and now full of early tulips, set me back a bit. A squirrel had gotten into one of the frames and helped itself to numerous less common tulips. In the process, it dug up –among others - various reticulate irises and fritillaries. After taking one or two bites of these and uttering the sciurid version of “yuck”, it did not have the courtesy to replant the bulbs, bulbs now sundered from their roots. It ate the tulip bulbs and left the blooming stems scattered on the soil surface. Some labels moved around in the process. Some inedible plants were scratched out and shredded: don’t get between a hungry squirrel and a tasty bulb. Meditation isn’t doing it this morning… Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 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/