For a projected feature in our PBS newsletter, the Bulb Garden, I'd like to collect comments from members on what they perceive as "parallel" regions with their home areas. That is, do you find that geophytes from particular other parts of the world adapt well to your garden? Have you visited the parallel region(s)? Have some adaptations surprised you because they "shouldn't have worked?" A region that is said to be very close in climate to the maritime Pacific Northwest of North America (where I live) is the Black Sea coast of Turkey and its nearby mountains. I do find that bulbous species native to that region do very well here, as do such perennials as Iris lazica and Scutellaria pontica. (The name "pontica" is a geographical epithet for that area.) I haven't yet tried the several lily species from there, but I will once I get to my new deer-free garden. I haven't visited there, either, but hope to before long. When I visit northern Chile I find myself wishing I had a garden in southern California so that I could grow some of the wonderful bulbs and shrubs I see there. They're much too xeric for western Oregon. The area around Santiago, Chile reminds me strongly of California's Central Valley, where I lived as a teenager, and the coast around Valparaiso is an analog of the San Francisco Bay area. What is your home's analog, or parallel, and why? What bulbs from there have you tried, and which ones do you long for? Thanks in advance for helping with this topic! Jane McGary President, PBS