Folks, For those of you who have been following the US government's efforts to tighten up the import rules on plants, the government just issued its final ruling on the first batch of plants that will be banned from import out of fear that they might become invasive. It's been a very long process with a lot of back and forth discussion with the folks in Washington, but the outcome is that they listened to us. Two "bulb" species that they had proposed for import bans, Gladiolus undulatus and Alstroemeria aurea, have been removed from the list. You can read the full ruling here: http://regulations.gov//… Your feedback helped show them that these two species were already available in the US (making an import ban irrelevant) and that they are not major risks for becoming broadly invasive weeds. (Note that the definition for invasive weed in this case means something that shows a tendency to escape into the wild and take over undisturbed areas, not just something that moves around within a garden. They're looking for potential economic harm here.) I wish Roy Sachs had lived to see this. He was a PBS member, Alstroemeria grower, and former chair of the Landscape/Environmental Horticulture department at UC Davis. Roy was skeptical that the government would pay any attention to him, but he went ahead and sent them information on the behavior of A. aurea in cultivation, and I think he had a big influence on the government's decision. Good job, Roy! The other outcome of this process is that the government folks are much more aware of groups like ours, and are quite open to working with us in the future to identify truly dangerous species and to find ways to import seeds and plants in ways that reduce the risk of invasive pests. I think the ball is in our court to build a relationship with them and come up with creative ideas on how to work together. The more we work with them up front, the more we can head off misguided regulations before they become a problem. Thanks to everyone who helped out by providing information about the presence and behavior of these species. Mike San Jose, CA