On 04/28/2020 05:00 AM, Jim Barton<jimb@customwindowsupply.com> wrote: Does anyone grow California native bulbs in 1 gallon black pot in the Central Valley of California? The growing medium in my pots is becoming much hotter than the native soil where many of my bulbs are planted. Last weekend I made a shade structure of ?" gray PVC pipe and shade cloth, in an attempt to keep the pots cooler. The heat seem to be drying out the stems before they finisher blooming. Any other ideas? If you plunge your pots into the ground or a *large* plunge bed, it should take care of your problem. If this isn't something easy for you to do, then at least move those pots to some spot where they are shaded all day long, e.g. the north side of your house. At the same time, I'd say shade cloth is a good idea too but not sufficient by itself to keep the soil temperature in your pots low enough for the bulbs to survive. -- Rodger Whitlock _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…