Hi Rodger, I've been trying to grow Scoliopus bigelovii for years since I'm very fond of it and it grows naturally in the areas I hike each spring. I once heard someone who was growing it say that it needed to be kept absolutely dry during summer. My experience doing this has resulted in plants that although they have survived have not advanced at all. When I dumped the soil out to see if there was anything there I could barely make out some thin roots. Ian Young had pictures of some healthy specimens and I wrote to him and he advised year round water and a very deep pot for the extensive root structure. This makes sense to me since most of the ones I've seen in the wild are close to water and could go down very far to get to the water table during their summer dormancy. Certainly the root structure that others have described did not match my plants that may have been desiccated in their dry soil without water for many months. They are often woodland plants where there is shade and leaf litter and grow in coastal summer fog belts where it rarely is hot. I haven't rooted around in the soil where I've seen them, but I'd guess clay. The Wild Lilies, Irises and Grasses book that many of us purchased has a gorgeous drawing in it (reproduced in Pacific Horticulture) and it says: "A rootstock four to five inches deep sends yellowish tan, fuzzy roots down to permanent moisture in humus-rich clays." Here is what Ian Young wrote me privately. Seeing his plants in May I can testify that he is growing them very successfully. "The compost we use is a free draining loam based compost with some extra leaf litter to add humus. We grow the seedlings in deep polystyrene (Styrofoam) boxes as they like a deep root run. I get the feeling that you are getting them too hot and dry in the summer, they hate that. We keep them cool and moist in summer - this is not difficult as that is what a Scottish summer usually is. They can withstand long dry periods in the summer but it sets them back and they never seem to progress to flowering size. I think that you are going to have to water them through the summer and give them as much depth as you can as their roots will easily go down 50cms in search of moisture." He didn't say anything about fertilizer, but to expect four years from seed to bloom. Perhaps with more fertilizer it would be faster. Jim McKenney is growing Scoliopus successfully. Perhaps he can say how. I've added a picture Bob took in Ian Young's garden of his pot of Scoliopus leaves mid May so you can see that how large the leaves are (perhaps his foot can be a reference). After many years of growth my plants with a dry summer remained very small in contrast. http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… Mary Sue Mary Sue Ittner California's North Coast Wet mild winters with occasional frost Dry mild summers