It’s been raining all day, so I’ve been looking for things to do inside. I checked some pots of seed sown recently and had a nice surprise: seed of Calochortus weedii collected in 2005 (Northwest Natives seed) and received in the fall of 2008 and stored in the refrigerator since is suddenly germinating en masse. This seed was sown in early November and has been kept cold but above freezing since. I brought the pot inside the other day when bad weather was expected – I wonder if the seed germinated so suddenly in response to the comparatively warm conditions in the house? Several weeks ago I rescued a big florist’s cyclamen at the local grocery store: it had dried out, wilted and was put out at a steep discount ($1.50). I took one look at it and realized that all it needed was a good soak, and so it came home with me. It then spent the next few weeks outside recovering in the fresh air and rain. By now it is fully recovered and has a place of honor in the house (but only temporarily because the house is too warm for it). It’s got dozens of buds and maybe six or seven fully developed intense red flowers. I’m curious to see how long it will continue to bloom – it looks as if it’s set for several months of bloom. I’ll keep it outside as long as the temperature stays above freezing (it was covered in snow in a recent snow fall – that didn’t seem to bother it a bit). 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/