For Gmail users: Click on the vaguely gear-like icon at the upper right --> Settings --> Labs --> Enable "Quote selected text" Of course, those of us who use many different email clients on many different platforms are still liable to make mistakes... As I did when I sent a message to the whole list a few weeks ago that I meant to send to Mary Sue. I'd like to apologize for that, and especially for the implication that members with less-than-perfect English are unwelcome, which was not at all what I intended. I think we all agree about that. I haven't responded both because I'm too busy, and because I did not want to make the situation worse by adding yet another email to everyone's inbox about something in no way related to geophytes (which was why I wanted to send the message to Mary Sue in the first place...) We are all here to learn about (or at least talk about) bulbs, not email clients or spelling or how to use the internet. I want to sincerely apologize for contributing to that problem. Thus, the interesting part of this email: Lachenalia orchioides var. orchioides is in full bloom, farther along than L. aloides var. quadricolor, which normally, for me, gets started in early December. L. orchioides, from seed, bloomed last year in late Feb. for the first time; it got a LOT of sun this winter. L. aloides got less sun but not I think less than usual; however, its pot is incredibly overcrowded (from I think 3 bulbs purchased from Odyssey Bulbs in 2007, I now have at least 14 scapes, and many more plants). In short, either crowding delays but does not reduce flowering in L. aloides, or extreme (winter) sun hastens flowering in L. orchiodes. (Or both). L. orchioides var. orchioides might be described as the kind of plant only a mother could love. It's all green with a yellowish tinge at the edge of the petaloid tepals. But the variation in leaf spotting is astonishing (I have 5 plants from a single packet of Silverhill seed) -- and even more variable are the tiny cyan (think Ixia viridiflora) speckles on the sepaloid tepals: http://flickr.com/photos/badthings/… These small epiphanies are why I grow bulbs! (And enjoy reading emails about bulbs from others who grow them). Best, Max Withers Oakland CA