On 3 Oct 2012, at 6:59, John Grimshaw wrote: > I am astonished by Rodger Whitlock's assertion that Nerine bowdenii is a > winter-growing plant. This is entirely contradictory to experience here in > the UK, or in its wild habitat, where in both cases it is emphatically > summer-growing. John, you are far too easily astonished. I make a point of being wrong at least fifty times a day, and usually reach my quota with no effort. Perhaps Nerine is really a wet-season grower, regardless of when that wet season occurs? But I will have to go out and peer more closely at my one and only patch that ever does much of anything. You may have nailed one of those occasions when my quota is reached by public embarassment. That said, nerines *do* do very well in Victoria left to their own devices. At the moment, we haven't had a substantial rainfall since the middle of July. One thing they don't enjoy is heavy soggy soil in winter. I really can't grow them in my present garden, a former swamp and still mostly a quagmire in winter. The best stand I know of in Victoria is on Mt. Tolmie, a low, but steep hill where the drainage must be superb. Mt. Tolmie: http://maps.google.com//… At any rate, if Denys Bourque follows my advice, he will be subjecting his nerines to something approximating the Victoria climate. As an added advantage, this entitles him to sip tea and eat crumpets and pretend he's listening to sea lions bellowing hoarsely on the rocks. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Z. 7-8, cool Mediterranean climate