Speaking of being lured in... I just came in from the garden where I noticed my tiny patch of Moraea tripetala, planted fall 2011 from Telos, have many buds forming. Last year their show was overshadowed by the purple bee-buzzing cloud of abundant Tropaeolum hookerianum ssp. austropurpureum bloom. But this year my Tropaeolumn is taking the year off, as Diana will attest they do sometimes. All the way across the garden, from where I sit at the keyboard, I can see the giant purple clusters on long stems of the Dichelostemma capitatum I ordered from Telos last year. They smell strongly of honey and are now in their third week of bloom. Near me, on the porch is the Lachenalia from 2011, blooming its indescribable mix of colors. This one taught me I was using the wrong potting mix, as it did not dry sufficiently last summer. The Oxalis fragrans (not a species, just a name) is just a cushion of leaves now but all last autumn it was covered with flowers opening in the late afternoon and evening, so fragrant even my husband could smell them. Unlike most bulb nurseries, Telos is in a climate similar to my own. Diana researched which crocus could persist without a cold winter. I am growing a couple Crocus species from Telos which worked in her climate so I am optimistic they will be as pretty next year as they were this year. Growing bulbs from seed is slow and tricky. Before I tried seeds, I ordered bloom sized corms, bulbs, and tubers from Telos. And I have learned much from growing each species as a mature plant. Sometimes the lesson is not what I expected. Mistakes have taught me more than my successes, and have pushed me to learn more, often from PBS members. I have learned how to look at a plant, seeing features I never thought of before, like leaf cross-section and margins of bracts. It feels indulgent to plop a mature bulb in the ground and get instant flowers. But those blooms are what lured me in to seed germination and taxonomy. So take care browsing the Telos catalog... you might get inspired or set off on an unexpected journey. - Gastil Santa Barbara, California where the Ipheion uniflorum has just hit peak bloom today