The winter here in Houston has been rather cool, temperature wise for us this year--we've already had about 7 freezes here, but nothing below about 29F. That was enough to "slap back" the Freesia's--but they will recover, and that was my fault. After wrapping pipes and then having to unwrap them because it warms up and we are also in a severe drought--which results in having to frequently water, I did not feel like hauling them in. I also have a sizable tropical hibiscus "slip size" collection--and the bulbs are having to "fend for themselves" this year. But I do have a lot of Oxalis obtusa and versicolor blooming now--Oxalis stenorrhyncha, O. hirta, O namaquana, O lobata (it blooms all winter--still blooming) and O fabaefolia have already bloomed. Still have about 8-9 Oxalis species that haven't bloomed yet. My Oxalis collection and all these rain lilies are probably my most extensive collections.I also have a sizable collection of daff's--most of the Tazetta's have bloomed, but others are up and growing. Ipheions are blooming and so are the Nothoscordum felipponi (by whatever name you choose to refer to it). I have a lot of Cape Glads--they are growing but no blooms yet (it's been a bit cool I suspect). I also have a lot of alliums and they are almost all up and doing as well as can be expected with only water from the hose. I've actually cut back my bulb collection (running out of room) this year and am concentrating more on what I like the best. I hope this summer to expand my Oxalis collection but that's probably all. They do so well down here in the winter and living in pots, can be brought inside to keep them dry for the summer. "They" say that we generally have a colder than normal winter after a major hurricane blows through in the fall. But you know how that goes, "they" say lots of things. We have had more freezes this winter--but we genrally get about 20 inches of rainfall over Dec-Feb too. Not a drop of rain here at my house (the west side of Houston--basically the unincorporated suburbs--and also the "dry side" of Houston in normal times) since before Christmas. They are predicting some for tonight--but I'm not holding my breath. Actually this is a good thing--a lot of us around here is still on waiting lists for new roofs (myself included). I was surprised to see the lay-off's at AllState announced, they were sure stingy paying out over Ike damages. Debbie west Houston (excuse all spelling errors please)