Mary Sue, Don't you miss Jack Elliott terribly? He'd have been all over this one. I can almost hear him saying these things are never as difficult as one might imagine. Divide the seed into two lots, give one to Diana to germinate, keep the other and go for it. I have not grown any of the Frits except a couple of the common ones sold in bulb form. If my F. imperialis grow and bloom this year I shall consider my self a Fritillaria expert though! Just kidding. I can think of several reasons why F. pinetorum is found in the conditions you state. And none of them would include that they like these conditions. Perhaps it is only surviving there and has been grazed almost into extinction in the more moderate habitat(s). Perhaps it is extinct everywhere else and is only hanging on there for dear life through the inadvertent passage of a bird who ate the last surviving seeds elsewhere. No one knows these things. I am sure Wayne was trying to be kind and save us a lot of hard work. But I wouldn't let that discourage you, try it!