Hi, I'm really curious about Doug Westfall's recent post about the status of his Veltheimia >There are flower spikes on most of them My Veltheimia bracteata has just broken dormancy this month. Most of the plants haven't had leaves since early summer. Are these new flower spikes? My plants usually bloom sometime from March to May. This is another example of how plants grow really differently in Southern California than in Northern California. Many years ago when we discussed Veltheimia some people reported their plants never went dormant, probably because of the difference in how much moisture they got in summer. When the leaves on mine start dying back, I stop watering them. The ones I planted in the ground dwindled away I expect because it was too dry for them in summer since in South Africa they would have rainfall in summer. In large containers in the shade in our relatively cool summers the soil probably doesn't dry out so much. How do you treat yours Doug? Mary Sue Mary Sue Ittner California's North Coast Wet mild winters with occasional frost Dry mild summers