I'm not Southern California but I have some seedlings that are dwindling, but aren't gone yet. Partly because of Rodger's praise I've tried this from seed four times, exceeding the Tony Avent 3 times rule. The first three times I lost whatever came up by the second or third year. The fourth time I had better germination so it's taking longer to lose them. Of the 24 seedings that came up 14 months later, I still had 10 last fall. I've kept them dry in soil in shade when dormant in our cooler summers. They get watered when we start getting rain in late fall. But they are slow to come up. This year they came up in April. Like Angelo, by then the rain has slowed down usually and the temperatures are getting warmer so you'd have to start watering. So far I've seen no flowers, deformed or otherwise. Hopefully they are big enough now that I can prechill them and see if that helps. Mary Sue