Pamela asked: By the way I have not been successful with Bessera elegans. I put a load in two years ago and also last year another tranche...not one has emerged. Are they difficult in alkaline dry soil?
Pamela, I don't think these are really suited to mediterranean conditions, as they do need water during their summer growing period (they are dormant in winter). Your only chance would be to plant them in quickly draining soil, perhaps sandy, and to give them plenty of water in summer.
They don't like soil that is at all compacted. I have had no success with them in Greece (soil that bakes nearly to clay in summer), and little success with them outdoors in the UK (the dormant corms are not frost-hardy). I do grow them under frost-free glass (see photo), in a light very free-draining compost, drying them out completely in the winter, and giving lots of water in winter, and they thrive under those conditions. They are quick to come to flowering size from seed - and the corms increase in number quickly, too.
They are so elegant, with little flowers reminiscent of fuchsias, on long elegant stems, and long very narrow leaves to match, that they are worth a bit of special treatment.