Darn. Bob was in his 90s, so I can't call his death a shock, but it's still very sad. I was hoping he could go on and on indefinitely. Thanks, Nathan, for sharing the news. The obituary is good, but I think this newspaper article from a few years ago does a better job of capturing Bob and Marlene's personalities and wide interests. Remarkable people. https://ukiahdailyjournal.com/2015/01/… otographs/ Mary Sue already wrote a nice summary, so I'll just tell a story. I corresponded and talked with Bob off and on over the years through PBS events, phone calls, and the email forum. Bob and I were both Moraea nuts, although he had taken the obsession further than me. He was, without question, the world's leading cultivator and evangelist of the genus Moraea. I don't know who first called him the Morea king, but he definitely was. He was always very generous with knowledge and seeds, and deeply enthusiastic about bulbs. In 2011, he contacted me asking if I would take custody of his bulb collection. He was getting to a point where it was physically difficult for him to maintain several hundred pots, and he didn't want the collection to wither away. I felt very strange about taking away someone else's babies, but Bob and I had both seen cases in which very nice bulb collections did not outlast their owners (the grisly fate of the UC Irvine collection was cited by Bob in the article above, and Steve Vinisky's rescue of the Zinkowski Nerine collection in 1998-9 weighed heavily on me, especially Steve's heartbreaking stories of the rarities that died when the Zinkowski collection was neglected in the winter after he died). So in late summer of 2011 I drove my pickup truck up from San Jose, CA, to Ukiah, where Bob lived. Bob and his wife Marlene lived in a gorgeous spot on a hillside above town. Picture a wood frame house surrounded by oak trees, with a deck looking out over the valley. I think he had several acres of land, most of it sloping. He told me one time that he spent years battling Scotch Broom plants that wanted to take over the whole place. Bob's bulb collection was mostly Moraeas, with some Romuleas, Glads, and other nice stuff mixed in. Most of it was in a couple hundred pots on raised racks, plus more plants growing in stone raised beds around the house. The Calochortus were mostly in the ground, in rows, on a gentle slope below the deck. It must have been a wonderful sight in spring. Bob told me that Calochortus amabilis was native to the site, and would bloom in huge numbers when the weather was right -- if the deer didn't eat them all. He was pretty peeved about the deer, as I recall. As I loaded pot after pot in the truck, Bob shared insights and growing tips. He had found that diluted seaweed-based fertilizer, administered regularly, helped the bulbs a lot. He suspected that the Moraeas were happier in part shade rather than full sun. We also talked about some of his favorite Moraea species: --He was very pleased that he had figured out how to make Moraea vespertina bloom (the trick is to grow it in ground, or in a super deep pot; it will not bloom in a standard pot). Bob was fascinated by that species. He told me it's named after vespers (evening prayers). The name is very appropriate, because the species opens its translucent white flowers for only a few hours each day, in the late afternoon. --Moraea tortilis is a desert species that makes a tiny spiral leaf coiled like the spring from a ballpoint pen, and a big purple and white flower close to the ground. It's an awesome plant, but difficult to grow in my climate because it's too wet here. Bob told me the trick is to grow it in pure sand. I'm still trying, and there are a couple of plants straggling along. Maybe next year I'll get a flower again. --Moraea ciliata sometimes has leaves whose edges are fantastically curled and crinkled. Bob loved the crinkled forms, and tried to grow them separately. (Check the third photo here: https://growingcoolplants.blogspot.com/2017/05/….) --We were both gaga about Moraea barnardii, a tiny blue and white flower that's not particularly difficult to grow, but is hard to maintain. Alas, neither of us were very successful keeping it in cultivation. I still regret that. Bob told me bits and pieces about his life. He was a doctor, and even though he was already in his 80s, he still worked in the local hospice, which amazed me. He also volunteered to teach children about gardening, and he was trying to raise the next generation of bulb enthusiasts. He told me about a classroom activity he had created, in which he would have each kid in a class plant a bulb seed into a plastic cup with their name on it. Bob would take away the cups, grow them on, and bring the cups back to the kids the next year, so they could see the plant growing. Bob made sure there was a successful plant in every cup. I can't remember which bulb species he used. The idea was to show the kids a bit of plant magic and get them interested in gardening. That's the sort of guy Bob was: enthusiastic, energetic, and very engaged with people. Bob's pots almost completely filled the bed of my pickup. When I was done loading them, Bob gave me his log book: a well-loved three-ring binder in which he recorded his annual results for each pot. I have the binder next to me as I write this, so I can tell you that pot 14a had a blue form of Moraea fugax. Every year since 2000, Bob logged the number of single-leaf plants, multi-leaved plants, and flowers in each pot. There are also notes on the blossoms. Marlene fed me lemonade and cookies, which was very welcome (it was a hot day). She was very supportive of Bob's hobby, although she said she was more interested in brightly colored flowers than obscure species. I sent her some Tritonia corms, which hopefully gave her the color she liked. They were both very charming people, and I spent the long drive home in the pleasant afterglow of their hospitality and the things we had discussed. To the surprise of both Bob and me, the road trip got the attention of his bulbs. Some species that had refused to bloom for him put up flowers for me that spring. In particular, Moraea speciosa bloomed for several years, and I got flowers from strange new color forms of M. tricolor that Bob had not seen before. Some species were lost, unfortunately, and I have learned to propagate everything when I get the chance, to make sure they don't dwindle out of the collection. Bob had visited South Africa, and was very worried about the long-term prospects for the country's flora, given all the difficulties affecting the place. He was passionate about the need to preserve bulb species in cultivation, and I know if he were talking to you now he'd say to take good care of your plants and share them generously. I believe that's the best thing you can do to remember him. Bob contributed many of the photos in the Moraea section on our wiki (posted by Mary Sue!). He also contributed a chart listing most Moraea species that are available in cultivation, and rating them for beauty and difficulty of cultivation. You can find the chart here: http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/… (My browser has trouble opening that file directly, so you may need to download it and then open it from your device.) The last time I spoke with Bob, he was still hoping to do more trips to see Calochortus in bloom. That's the way I'd like to go, still engaged with the world and looking ahead. Thanks, Bob! I'll think of you every year when the Moraeas bloom. Mike San Jose, CA _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> PBS Forum https://…