John, I wish I had more information on the chilling requirements of much of what I grow and sell. The ideal would be to have hard data on the number of chilling hours required, which in most cases will vary not only by species but also by provenance. C. pulchellus occurs over quite a wide range, most of it a bit north of the Mediterranean climate zone. It's possible that material originating at the southern fringes of its range would be more amenable to your climate. I would guess that some of the Californians on this list can speak to this with much more authority than I can. In deciding what to try from our catalog, I'd say first go for the Mediterranean ones that come from relatively warm regions -- Crocus niveus VV.KA.2312, for example, from southern Greece, and C. etruscus, from Italy. Then try some species that are a bit more marginal, such as C. malyi. Scott Ogden's Garden Bulbs for the South might be worth a look -- bulbs that do well in the deep South may also do well in your area, particularly if they're not from regions with moist summers. Russell At 03:51 AM 2/15/2010, you wrote: >Russell, > >I raised the question because I would dearly love to order a large >number of your unusual bulbs. But forty years of trying to grow >hundreds of hardy bulbs have taught me that here, at the opposite >corner of the nation from you, hardiness is seldom if ever a problem >but inadequate winter chilling is. > >Most "Mediterranean" bulbs that are hardy enough to survive >Massachusetts winters might bloom the first spring after planting, >but afterwards they just fade away here. Mediterranean littoral >species will thrive, but we cannot give Mediterranean bulbs from >higher elevations enough winter to make them happy. We can succeed >with Crocus goulimyi and C. imperatii and Leucojum aestivum but >Crocus pulchellus and Leucojum vernum will not do. > >Over the years of wasting money, perhaps I have grown overly cautious >of experimenting. I just wondered if you had a system which might >take more into consideration some of the other factors that limit >bulbs in our region. > >John C. MacGregor >South Pasadena, CA >USDA Zone 9 >Sunset Zones 21/23 Russell Stafford Odyssey Bulbs PO Box 382 South Lancaster, MA 01561 508-335-8106 http://www.odysseybulbs.com/