Hi Jim, Two years ago I dug up two blooming sized bulbs from the backyard because it was in the way of where I wanted to plant some things. The bulb came with the apartment. Then I got busy and just left it in another pot with a cover for about two months before it decided to bloom. I didn't really have any plans for them so I potted each into a 1 gallon container. They grew all last winter and decided to bloom this autumn. Based on my previous experience, they will not bloom for 2 years after they are disturbed. However, I think this time I carefully dug out a good portion of the root system, they came back fine. I'm not sure if they would be too root-bound by next year and won't bloom again but we will see. As to temperature, I think your last point makes most sense with the temperatures we have here. It may just mean that the ones at lower elevation (and lower latitudes) got the summer heat quicker and went dormant earlier. So this response may not be due to a trigger that caused flowering but just timing since dormancy. I think I'll need several dozen bulbs, dissect them throughout the season to figure this out! I don't know if I could bring myself to cut open so many slow-growing bulbs though. Maybe one day when I have amassed enough of them. I think a trick to getting them to bloom would be a cool summer. And by a cool summer I mean temperatures no higher than 90F, and if it does get higher, you need to drop down to at least the 70's at night. So, here's an experiment. Dig out a few of your largest bulbs and grow maybe 2-3 in a 3 gallon container. Bring the bulbs indoors and keep in your air conditioned house for the summer and maybe in two years, you will have some spectacular blooms to enjoy. The best part about having these in the house during blooming is that there are no leaves, so the plants aren't stressed that they're not getting sunlight. Nhu On Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 7:06 AM, Jim McKenney <jamesamckenney@verizon.net>wrote: > Nhu, you mentioned growing this plant in a pot. Can you tell us more about > this? > ... a temperature gradient. That confused me because if the plants were > responding to a gradual cooling, wouldn't the plants at higher elevations > bloom first? Or is there something about local conditions at Berkeley which > cause the lower elevations to cool before the higher? Or do you think the > plants require a certain amount of time above a certain temperature before > they bloom, and they get that heat requirement sooner at lower elevations? > >