Besides a pot of Haemanthus pauculifolius in bloom (see: http://shieldsgardens.com/Blogs/Garden/… ), we have Lachenalia viridiflora in bloom now as well. Now I see a bloom stalk shooting up on Aloe microstigma, which we got from the U.C. Berkeley botanic garden about 9 months ago. According to the book, "Guide to the Aloes of South Africa" by van Wyk and Smith, A. microstigma is native to a broad band from the Western Cape Province into the Eastern Cape Province. A quick poll in the Xeric World Forum (see: http://www.xericworld.com/forums/home.php ) showed that most microstigma seemed to be blooming now. We are also well along to getting a predicted 4 inches of snow here across central Indiana today. It looks nice outdoors, but I'm staying inside for the rest of today. We'll see what tomorrow brings when it gets here. Jim Shields in central Indiana USA ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344