Boophane disticha Port Elizabeth. Photo by Tom Glavich.

Like wayfaring friends who appear on your doorstep with a bounty of treasure and then are gone, bulbs share their colorful displays and then slumber for several months before new growth above the soil heralds their return.

From Albuca, Boophone, Calibanus and Eucrosia to Lachenalia, Ornithogalum, Tricyrtis and Zephyranthes, the list of exotic bulbs that can grow in Southern California goes on and on. The next CSUN-al Gardening session — scheduled from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31, at California State University, Northridge — will explore what gardeners should know about bulbs and how to keep them flourishing.

“We who garden in Southern California benefit from the area’s Mediterranean climate,” said Brenda Kanno, manager of CSUN’s Botanic Garden, which hosts the CSUN-al Gardening Series. “The list of bulbs that can grow here, whether in pots or in the ground, is almost endless.”

Tom Glavich, proprietor of Skyview Succulents, will lead the session on bulbs. Glavich is an accomplished grower of bulbs, succulents and bromeliads. He is the author of the book, “The Beginner’s Guide to Haworthia, Agave and Other Succulent Monocots.” In addition to monthly newsletter contributions, he also is co-chair of the annual Inter-City Cactus and Succulent Show in Arcadia, and he is the co-chair of the research committee of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America.

Registration for the free class begins today, Sept. 30, and is required. Email botanicgarden@csun.edu to request a space in the class or for more information. Driving and parking instructions, as well as the class meeting location, will be sent upon registration.

CSUN’s Botanic Garden is operated by the university’s Department of Biology and serves as a field site for botany, entomology, photography, painting and other classes. In addition to outdoor landscapes and natural botanic environments, the garden also features greenhouses where noteworthy botanical specimens are grown. The garden was recently ranked by Best Colleges Online as one of the 50 “most amazing” university botanic gardens in the United States.

Visit the website www.csun.edu/botanicgarden/ for more information about CSUN’s Botanic Garden.

Botanic Garden, Department of Biology