Roland wrote, For sure plant your Colchicums first >Yesterday is always the best day for planting them >Two easy tricks >Peel of the skin just before planting till you see the but >marque every bulb with a sate pin and If one doesn't come up next year >dig a hole on that spot till you see the leaves and fold them strait >so they get light and close the hole as far as possible >at least normally you have flowers next year If I get a colchicum that has started to flower before planting, I just remove the flower bud before planting it in the normal position. I think it's better to lose the first year's flowering, which will not be normal in any case once it has initiated while out of the soil, and get the bulb settled without its having to spend the energy to bloom. Once you're used to colchicums, it's not difficult to situate the bulb upright -- except for a few small species such as C. boissieri and C. minutum that produce horizontal, wormlike corms, which can just be put in the ground in any position and they will figure it out. Incidentally I recommend wearing disposable latex gloves if you're handling a lot of colchicum plant material, whether leaves or corms and roots. I don't know whether the toxin can be absorbed through the skin, but better safe than sorry. These gloves are also good to wear if you're handling a lot of hellebore material, especially when cleaning seeds -- you can get quite a dermatitis from hellebore. Some people also react to Narcissus but I haven't found it a problem. Just this morning I lifted the last of the bulbs that were dormant. A few are flowering now, such as Allium sanbornii and Brodiaea californica. The Brodiaea could be lifted anyway, as in this group (which also include Dichelostemma and Triteleia and a few other genera) the stem usually is detached from the bulb, or almost so, when the flowers open on their long stems. Apparently the moisture and nutrients in the stem itself are enough to nourish flowering, seed set, and ripening. You can throw a stem of Dichelostemma ida-maia out into the field and it will get on with its job quite well. No doubt that is why I have rather too many of them, but they will be a nice addition to the new garden and are beloved by hummingbirds. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA