The bulb house is a scene of drying foliage and seed capsules now, except for the far side of the "dry" bed, where the Calochortus species are in full bloom. The earliest to flower are in seed now: C. tolmiei, C. monophyllus, C. albus, C. elegans, C. coeruleus, C. umpquaensis, and C. uniflorus. Tall yellow C. amabilis is almost done. Just winding down is tiny C. coxii. The large mariposas -- C. venustus in many color forms, C. superbus, C. splendens, C. vestae. C. catalinae, C. argillosus, C. invenustus, and C. simulans -- have reached their peak. The strange little pink C. striatus has its last flowers open, as does another plant of the Southwest desert, deep orange C. kennedyi. A group of lovely C. concolor have opened in the past two days, these with central markings and brownish exterior flush. This morning a new one for me, C. dunnii, opened three simple white flowers with small dark nectary spots. Another rather plain one in flower is C. howellii, whose spots are greenish. C. longebarbatus is doing very well, which consoles me somewhat for not having its taller relative C. macrocarpus. Calochortus clavatus subsp. gracilis has been in flower for some time, but its larger relative, C. clavatus subsp. clavatus, is yet to open. Waiting to end the parade are C. palmeri, C. weedii, and C. plummerae, and the curious C. obispoensis with its little flowers that look like furry wasps. To see C. subalpinus, however, I'll have to drive up to the mountains nearby, as I've never been able to grow this plain little cream-colored one. And sadly I seem to have lost one of my favorites, C. amoenus, of which I had many that did not survive the move. My collection is also missing most of the species from the interior West, and I have none of the Mexican species. I owe the majority of these plants to the seed collections of Ron Ratko, but some also came from seed purchased from Jim and Georgie Robinett and from the Archibalds, who collected in California a couple of times and in other years got seed from John Andrews. My C. kennedyi came from Sally Walker's seed list. Despite the many different habitats from which these plants have come, I'm growing all of them in the same soil (now, sharp coarse sand with clay and compost down below, where the bulbs may eventually descend), and in just two different moisture regimes, one bed with a little water in the summer and plenty in winter, and the other less moisture in winter and none in summer. All of them have survived about 20 degrees F (minus 6 C) in my former bulb frames; in their new home they may be warmer because of the lower elevation and lack of east wind. They are flowering much better and making much bigger plants (depending on species) now that they're not in pots. The flowers appear to be pollinated by both bumblebees and a small bee, and probably flies too. Last year they set seed well and I sent most of it to the NARGS exchange. Some rare kinds went to Oron Peri in Israel, for him to try in a climate that the southern Californian species in particular should love. This year I'll send some to the PBS BX so more specialized growers can try them. I'll give Dell Sherk a note to accompany it with tips for growing them from seed. I should warn you, though, that hybridization occurs readily between some species, especially in section Mariposa, subsection Venusti. I have what appear to be hybrids raised from wild-collected C. superbus seed, and I read that hybrids between it and C. luteus are frequent and appear much like what I have here -- basically pale yellow. I'll mark them with tape labels on the scapes so I'll know what seed I'm collecting, and the same for the best color forms of C. venustus. This is a fascinating genus if you have the patience to raise them (flowering can take 4 or 5 years) and the room to accommodate them; they do best with a very deep root run, and many of them are tall and floppy, since they grow in nature in grassland and around shrubs they can lean on. Some of my tall ones are fortunately behind clumps of Regelia and Regeliocyclus irises, which are still in leaf at this time and hold the Calochortus up. C. venustus usually stands up well, though, even in wind. Other bulbs that flower at the same time include many Allium species and most of the western American Themidaceae (Brodiaea, Dichelostemma, Triteleia, Bloomeria). As far as I know, the only nursery selling mature material is Diana Chapman's Telos Rare Bulbs, from which I bought several special forms. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA