Regarding the question of whether it matters whether one plants Dichelostemma and other Themidaceae (Brodiaea, etc.) right side up, I think it matters if the corms are large, but not if they are little offsets or seedling bulbs. These plants are adapted to coexisting with burrowing and digging predators, such as gophers and bears (and Native American humans, traditionally), so the little offsets would get distributed at random after the large ones are consumed. Not all members of this group make very numerous offsets in my experience, but with some you will find a dozen or more tightly grouped around the large flowering-size corm. Because most of them have tall, bare stems and lax basal leaves, they look best in the garden growing among low shrubs (my choice here) or tall perennials and grasses, especially if you want seed, in which case you have to leave the stems up for a while (some will ripen seed on stems detached from the corm, though). Spacing them just depends on the visual effect you want. CLose groups, which they tolerate well, might look best in a garden with linear, rather abstract design, while widely spaced plants would look more naturalistic. Incidentally all these themids are excellent cut flowers. The peculiar twining member of the group, DIchelostemma volubile, is particularly well suited to modernistic arrangements. We see an increasing selection of themids in mass-market bulb catalogs, where once there was only one cultivar of Triteleia laxa. (The recently introduced Triteleia laxa 'Rudy' is a very pretty one with striking contrast between the pale tepals and deep violet median stripes.) The offerings are frequently misnamed, but all are worth growing. So far I have found almost all of them, even Bloomeria crocea, hardy outdoors in northwestern Oregon down to at least the mid-teens Fahrenheit. Back to the right-side-up question, Fritillaria bulbs should always be planted right side up, except for the tiny "rice grains," which can be sown like seeds. If you grow some of the California ones that start out as long vertical single scales, you will see a little "hook" or barb at the bottom end. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA