Dear Jane, I grow this plant in the ground in Northern California and my soil is acid. It is growing in a site that is not watered in summer unless there are some drops from overflow from plants that I water in containers in my lath area that are near. It has been growing and blooming in the same spot for almost 15 years now. What changes every year is when it blooms and when it breaks dormancy. I looked just now and many are just now coming up. Some years they are already blooming in December in spite of being "spring" snowflakes. I thought you and I got about the same amount of rain so don't understand what the problem is. Most of my soil is decomposed sandstone, but originally some top soil was added to places that I'd best describe as silt. The deer don't like it and it is long blooming so I find it a very satisfactory plant. On the other hand, Acis (Leucojum) autumnale never returned when I planted it out. It does finein a container. But I give it some summer water and expect it was too dry for it in the ground. Mary Sue