At 11:09 23/06/05, you wrote: >Be of good cheer: minus 8 degrees C is actually closer to 20 degrees F, so >these may be tougher than we expect. Jim, Serapius lingua sails through winters down to -8'C here in Canberra without pause. Never been a problem any year I have had them, multiplying steadily and flowering happily despite being in small (5 or 6") black plastic pots (which therefore magnify the cold to a certain degree... which means that in the ground they would take colder than -8'C I would imagine?) and hopelessly neglected some years. I do repot them every couple of years because I feel sorry for them but they are left to themselves over summer generally and tend towards pretty dry (although most of my pots I do give at least some summer watering to). -8'C is definitely not a problem to them at all, or at least it definitely hasn't been here any time in the last 7 or 8 years or so that I have been growing them (and one of those years I think we got down below -9 from memory). I give them no special care or potting mix, just potting them up as I would any of my other bulbs. I keep them out in full sun and they are definitely pots that are in an area that doesn't always get watered as much as some of my pots as I know they seem to like a dryish summer. They don't seem to mind crowding and don't seem to mind if we get a wet period in winter while they are in full growth. They are fully dormant in summer, with absolutely no evidence that there is anything in the pot, as they die down to similar tubers to many of the terrestrial orchids. When repotting I give them some slow release bulb food and Saturaid to help in water penetration, but otherwise they get no liquid feeding or later top-dressing of fertiliser or anything like that. They can grow quite happily for a couple of years without any fertilise obviously as I don't get them repotted every year and therefore they don't get any fresh fertiliser in those years I don't. Doesn't bother them and doesn't affect flowering or offsetting as far as I can tell? So the upshot is if you were expecting them to not be hardy to -8'C then either you have a strain that is cold sensitive, or else the ones in my garden have not read any of the gardening books and don't know that they shouldn't grow here. Yes, I am a harsh man who doesn't let his plants do any reading of gardening reference books..... I prefer to keep them uninformed about what they should be preferring by way of environment! LOL Hopefully some of the information above is of some use to someone out there reading this. If there is anything I can clarify or expand on just ask. Apologies if it does take me a bit of time to respond but I am not always using the computer at the moment because of ill health.... but I will respond when I get the chance. Cheers. Paul Tyerman Canberra, Australia. USDA equivalent - Zone 8/9 (Extremes approx 40'C/summer and -8'C/winter) Growing.... Galanthus, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Trilliums, Cyclamen, Crocus, Cyrtanthus, Oxalis, Liliums, Hellebores, Aroids, Irises plus just about anything else that doesn't move!!!!!