Narcissus 'Cedric Morris' is well grown but not flowering this year here. I wonder if it's getting too much summer water where I have it? Snowdrops in the same area seem to be doing well, however. In full bloom are Narcissus cantabricus and some of its selections and hybrids. I find I have to grow these under cover; they can survive in the open but rarely seem strong enough to flower there. The dry summer conditions of the bulb house are better for them; indeed, I have to thin them each summer and will send some to the BX then. The only other flowers in the bulb house (a "Mediterranean" unheated, roofed, open-sided house) are a couple of Colchicum species: Colchicum doerfleri and Colchicum triphyllum (syn. Merendera triphylla). Also blooming is Sternbergia fischeriana, and I don't know why it does so so early here, when references suggest it should not do so until perhaps March. I have two collections of S. fischeriana; one increases and flowers well, and the other does neither. They are planted side by side in hope of cross-pollination, a vain hope, it seems. In the garden a few snowdrops are in bud. Recently I was given a snowdrop that Norm Kalbfleisch, who lives nearby, found in a neighbor's garden. It always is in flower by Christmas and is a robust plant. It keys out to Galanthus nivalis, other varieties of which flower later in this area. Do our galanthophile correspondents have other G. nivalis forms that are especially early? Despite 4 or 5 days of hard freeze, broken last night, a number of shrubs are flowering in the garden: Mahonia (Berberis) 'Arthur Menzies', Jasminum nudiflorum, Viburnum 'Dawn', camellias, and Chimonanthus praecox. I've uncovered the pots sown with seeds -- more than 500 this year, thanks to the distribution of a large seed bank to various growers -- and can now enjoy my morning inspection of them for signs of germination. During the freeze and the hiatus of the holidays I finished reading Chris Clennett's new monograph on the genus Erythronium and wrote a brief review of it for the NARGS website, where it is, or soon will be, posted. Reading it was quite a chore because of the tiny type size, but otherwise it's a valuable book for enthusiasts of the genus. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA