Thank you both for your input. I didn't mention it in the Subject line, but this is #10 (at the moment anyway) of the proposed new FAQ under Daffs. Since there are so many little variations, and really no one 'right' way, I'm thinking of posting all of the above ways, with a little editing. Of course will run it by you all before inputting them. vetivert, (I'm going to start abbreviating that to just v v, OK?) I put them into big buckets and leave them under cover to dry off naturally. A few weeks later I clean off the dirt and the remains of the leaves and roots. I have always been told that putting daffs in plastic, for any amount of time at all, is a very bad thing. Would you mind if I would edit what you posted to substitute 'container' instead of "big buckets"? Donna, I don't remember helping you before digging time, but am glad you had digging and storing success. Just as a note, I had several kinds of jonquils that had formed softball sized clumps of very small bulbs. I have since read that when bulbs are planted too shallowly, they will "blast" into small sizes, but make dozens. I planted them a bit more deeply this week. hmmm...had never heard that. I planted maybe 5 bulbs of Sun Disc in 2006 quite shallowly and dug them this year. I don't recall them being softball sized clumps, but maybe it is because they are by nature a pretty small bulb anyway, since it is a miniature. I had 'lots' of blooms from the clump in the spring so I don't think there were any adverse problems being planted shallowly. I don't remember how much they had multiplied...think I will start noting that info when I dig. Maybe it is because of different climates and different soils, or maybe it depends upon the cultivar? Here is a tip too for those who have a lot of different daffs to dig. In the spring, when the daffs are in bloom, one can mark clumps needing dug by circling the foliage at ground level with some bright surveyor's tape with info written on it...bulb name if known, div/color, if that's all that is known, # of blooms, etc. The tape is available at any hardware or big box store and you can then just write the info on one end with a black sharpie. The writing will hold up for even more than one year, in case they get missed being dug the first year they are marked for digging. TOTALLY OFF TOPIC: Sue, has anyone done any work on daylight length and night temperatures? A link would be so welcome. N canaliculatus and henriquesii are the species under consideration. v v, Now that is a totally new wrinkle with me (something I have not heard of before).

OK. In your post about cover crops I mentioned that generally native plants don't need a lot of soil improvement, being already adapted to local soils as is. I think since your soil had a lawn growing more or less successfully on it, you don't need to worry much about improving the soil. If you were in new construction that would be a different matter but you're not. In our rainforests, as in most rainforests, there is very little organic matter or nutrient content in the soil itself. Too much rain, everything gets washed out. The nutrients tend to be contained in plant biomass, either living or relatively recently dead and fallen to the ground. If you were to dig a soil profile in the Quinault rainforest there'd be an organic layer of leaf and twig debris on top of the soil along with fallen logs and branches; then there'd be a very very thin A horizon which is where most soil microbial activity takes place; then there'd be a heavily leached B horizon (the lower part of what's called topsoil) and below that there might be subsoil or there might be just rock, or a glacial hardpan. I'm surprised at how thin the soil is that these trees are growing on! Roadcuts and landslides in the Olympics show big doug firs growing in just a few inches of soil on top of bedrock. Typically for rainforests, both temperate and tropical, most nutrient recycling take place in the organic litter on top of the soil and the top few inches of soil. Some plant roots reach deeper of course but mainly for water and balance, there's not much microbial activity down there. That's one reason you see so many plants growing on top of rotting logs and stumps - it's where the nutrients are. So, what to do with your garden. You could plant now, without adding anything to the planting holes, and mulch around the plants - that would mimic their native environment. In our area you can plant hardy plants any time the soil is neither frozen nor waterlogged. If this will be your first winter in this garden, you might want to see how it performs over the winter, flooding and drainage wise, before finalizing your planting plan. Or, to be sure you've gotten the lawn grasses out, you could go with the cardboard covered with manure and tree chips route, then plant in spring. Typical ryegrass lawns are not that persistent, but if you had bentgrass or quackgrass, you need to be sure it's gone before planting. Adding organic mulches should take care of any nutrient needs. Yes our soils are typically low in calcium, but that's what the native plants are used to. Don't worry about it, or the pH. Leaf mold from deciduous trees would add calcium too, it's the coniferous stuff that makes our soil acid and calcium deficient. But what does 'deficient' mean if you're growing plants that are adapted to that state?? Calcium content is mainly an issue when growing (non native) plants from areas where the soil provides more calcium than ours does. What, no salal?

Hi Lori... Thanks for that info on Virginia Creeper. It sounds like it grows slower in the shade, but I really try hard not to choose plant material that is going to become a future problem for me or my neighbors, whether it is native or not. I think I am going to still find someone else who can use it. If I had a different property with more room and a wooded area that I could let it loose in, I would love to try it. It sounds very pretty. Thanks for the arrowwood tip. I know the NEWFS does usually have that one. maifleur....yes, you are lucky to have such a nice neighbor. I also have been given permission from two of my neighbors to trim their trees that overhang my yard. I am pretty sure I don't need their permission to trim what overhangs my yard though. It is nice to check and let them know what you are trying to do though. I hate to prune a tree in a way that distorts it's shape and I try not to do that. We do have a huge limb that was hanging over and it was so long and heavy, that it would dip to about 2-3 feet off the ground in a storm. We deicided to cut it back before it came down unplanned and took out half my shrubs with it. We tried trimming it back as little as possible but now we are unhappy with the stump that it left that has very little regrowth on it, so we are planning on cutting it back further to another joint where a good size branch is heading in another direction. Some of the other overhanging branches can also be trimmed, but the problem is, that the neighbors planted their trees, right up against the lot line. One is about 6 feet away from our fence and the other is less than a foot away, so half of the canopy of the tree is over our yard. I am sure trimming back the trees will help but some of my dry shade is going to stay dry shade no matter what I do. [g] I do have some good news though. In the beginning of the summer a neighbor two yards over cut down a tree. I thought it might open up more light for us. I just got around to checking it out. I was out in the yard all afternoon yesterday and I saw direct sun hitting the back of my border along a good 4 fence sections, from 2pm to 4:30pm! I was so encouraged by that. That is going to help my shrubs a lot!

So, why didn't I say do this, do that and you will get your orchid to flower? Many years experience on this forum and I know that the usual result with Den. kingianum grown as a house plant is lots of leaves and no blooms. Perhaps the other two species in the breeding will break the Den. kingianum dominance and you will get blooms. A few more days and spring will be here. Todays weather, approx temps down the yard in the shade house. Minimum 6C Humidity about 99% Maximum 24C Humidity about 25% The wind is a gentle breeze coming from the west..origin of wind from the southern ocean near Antartica, air warmed up and dried out. So we get the winter drought theory, only problem with that is that heavy rain can fall at any time of year and it doesn't seem to affect blooming. Summary. Average winter's day Sydney, Australia. Minimum 7C Maximum 17C. Sunny. Here is latitude 33/34 South. Information Overload.