Hi all, Whilst I hesitate to disagree with a plantsman as able as Iain, I feel that I should put up some slightly different experience. Last July I collected a number of Juno's in central Asia, including I. orchioides, I. willmottiana and I. kuschakewiczii, as well as a wide range of other types of Iris, Tulipa, Eremurus and Allium. All of these were sown in September and put out in covered cold frames for the winter. Whilst we had low temperatures by our standards, they did not fall below minus seven Celsius and, these pots were probably protected from the worst of that. In any event, around 95% of the species sown, i.e. around 150, have germinated with great success, mainly over the past two months. The only issue now is how to handle the thousands of seedlings! For the record, the sowing was done in a fifty-fifty mix of soil based compost with vermiculite, with a covering of course gravel, in the kind of pots normally used for pond plants. The bottom half of the pot was filled with a mix of soil based compost and fine gravel. Best regards, David Victor, Bedfordshire, UK