On 22 Jun 2013, at 12:03, James Waddick wrote: > Over the years I have tried a few yellow flowered Sisyrinchium with very > mixed to poor results. S. californicum has bright chrome-yellow flowers (that is, with an orange tinge to them). Drawback: it seeds like crazy, every seed germinates, and you have an exciting new weed in your garden. It's one of the very low sisyrinchiums, about the scale of Sisyrinchium "macounii album" or the newish cultivars 'Devon Skies', 'Sapphire', and 'Californian Skies'. Hardy? I don't know; as soon as I recognized its weedish propensities, I got rid of it. S. patagonicum I only got last summer. Contrary to James's description, I'd call the flowers small, but not "extremely tiny". Its growth habit is grassy, on a scale much like that of 'Quaint and Queer' and 'Raspberry'. I notice that its seed capsules are swelling, a sign it may turn out to be weedy. Can't speak to hardiness, as last winter was fairly mild and didn't test anything's hardiness. S. striatum 'Aunt May' I don't grow, and I don't know anyone who does now. I think it's more tender than the species and even in Victoria's rather mild climate you need to overwinter it in a pot protected from serious cold. I would describe its flowers as cream or ivory, rather than yellow. This last year I've been running a home brew trial of various sisyrinchiums on the local market, and the winner is the cultivar 'E K Balls'. Violet-blue flowers in great profusion, grassy growth habit but shorter than S. patagonicum. 'Sapphire' has the pleasant habit of the flowers opening purple and fading to sky blue. The mix of colors that results is very attractive, but it's one of those plants you need a fairly extensive sweep of to make any kind of decent show. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Z. 7-8, cool Mediterranean climate