Here in western Oregon we are into autumn a little earlier than usual, the rains having begun around mid-September rather than mid-October. It's also been cooler than usual. (Apologies to readers in the eastern USA, who have been suffering a heat wave.) Bulbs in both the open garden and the covered bulb house (which I start watering when the rains start) are responding happily. The bulb lawn had a little show of Colchicum boissieri and now has Crocus kotschyanus, Crocus serotinus, and Crocus niveus. C. kotschyanus also flourishes in the rock garden and on the raised "tulip bed," where Crocus tournefortii has opened its flowers that are so determined not to close up in dim weather. On the "alpine meadow" bed where gentians grow, Crocus banaticus has made a good clump. Here and there at the front of perennial beds, Crocus speciosus is just starting to open. Cyclamen hederifolium is flowering beautifully in its primary site, under two massive Douglas firs where little else will grow, and Cyclamen graecum is doing well on its little raised tufa bed; a stray Cyclamen cilicicum f. album looks fine among the pots in the bulb house. Most of the Sternbergia species are in the bulb house, where several forms of Sternbergia lutea are putting on a show, and two seed-grown Sternbergia clusiana have opened their huge greenish-yellow flowers; there is a group of Sternbergia greuteriana from wild-collected seed just opening there, and quite a few of that species derived from purchased bulbs glittering on a slightly raised, gritty bed in the open garden. The succession of large Colchicum species and hybrids is about at its midpoint in the garden, and the smaller ones in the bulb house are also presenting well, from a lovely dark Colchicum bivonae (not small, of course) to tiny Colchicum pulchellum, and also the low-flowering, starry species regarded as Colchicum by some and as Merendera by others. Some small, seldom-grown bulbs are flowering in the bulb house: miniature Muscari parviflorum, the only fall-flowering species in that genus; Narcissus elegans, which resembles N. serotinus but is smaller and does better for me; and Scilla intermedia (not sure what new genus it belongs to now). In the garden a couple of the fall-flowering Allium species from East Asia are appearing. It isn't easy to build up a collection of fall bulbs, partly because Dutch suppliers avoid the early shipping they need. Look at the smaller vendors listed on the PBS website under "Sources" to find some that do ship early. And, of course, grow from seed whenever you can! Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…