That is quite alright! It is a wonderful feeling to see things bloom after waiting 2 to 3 years plus for them! Congrats on the blooms! They love the cold and now is the best time for them to be blooming or at least mine start around now through March! And you have achieved something special!!! Enjoy, Melinda

Here in the Rockies, we've been cold enough lately. We haven't had the blizzards in Utah like they've had in Colorado, but we have a good snowstorm going on right now. We did have an unusual autumn, though, with a lot of rain at first, then a long, dry warm spell, then cold, then low 60s in early December, then bitter cold. Since skiing is important to Utah, someone is putting on a SaveOurSnow symposium in Park City next week. Some of you might be interested in the findings. Here's a quote about it: "The results of a $60,000.00 climate modeling study done by scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder will be released. Using the latest available global warming data and satellite images this study looks at what our snow pack will be in 2030, 2060 and at the end of the century." After the release next week, you might be able to find the Boulder study online. Being a politically conservative state, there is a lot of skepticism about global warming around here. I think many people are just burying their heads in the sand and believing what Sean Hannity and other pundits tell them.

Boo is a really prolific grower too, really wonderful in bloom. I have problems with some SDBs for some reason. I like the name too, irisgal! Brr, inga! Our weather has been up and down here, 70s one day, & low 50s the next. Lots of stuff blooming or in bud, with temps expected to get in the low 30s Sat & Sun nights. My lilies are almost all up, I don't think it will get cold enough to hurt them, keeping my fingers crossed though.

Just a little shout out for the species (especially for you foliage lovers). Our native h.foetidus (although it really doesn't whiff) has the most elegant deep green, almost black foliage...which looks utterly gorgeous with snowdrops and red stemmed dogwoods...and when the small, lime green, crimson edged flowers arrive (look out for 'wester flisk'), it is stellar. The huge leaved h.corsicanus (and smaller h.lividus) have been used extensively in the new hybrids (particularly the ericsmithii types)...but the straight species are fabulous, with the foliage looking as good in August as it did in March. For the warmer areas, the balkan h.torquatus and h.atrorubens are smaller in flower and daintier altogether but have uniquely coloured forms which look exceptional with ferns and grasses. I generally avoid the iffy h.niger....although I am seeing some possible hybrids such as Potters Wheel having niger in the mix. I confess to disliking the doubles, although the flowers do hold for weeks and weeks...and although I do try to buy when in flower (my sweetheart drove 70 miles to collect a single yellow, unspotted single once), I have not really made any inroads into the named varietal craze as the variation in the basic h.orientalis has been sufficient to keep me entertained. To start a collection, I heartily recommend buying a packet of Ashwood or Ballard hybrids and sowing around September. Within 3 years, you will have a good basis for a collection (they are almost foolproof at germinating and growing on, being able to go into the ground the first autumn and left alone for another couple of years.