Diane's new project reminds me of a very effective feature the late Molly Grothaus had in her garden, made entirely of flue tiles stacked up in tiers against a slight slope. She grew a large range of bulbs in them. I particularly remember the species tulips. She would put old roof shingles on top of them in summer. This is a good situation for bulbs that need protection from rodents (be sure to put some heavy-duty groundcloth or similar barrier under the area before putting in the soil), and also for those that don't need to be lifted and divided very often, because it would be awkward to do so (remember that they'll pull down as deep as they can). I'd also choose species that are well adapted to the amount of winter rainfall in the area, because it would be difficult to protect the growing plants against excessive wet, which can be especially problematic when frost is interspersed with periods of rain. Being able to segregate the species for special protection is always helpful. For example, if you have Sternbergia species, you can put some row cover over them at this time of year to prevent access by bulb flies. If you have some crocuses you want to protect against digging predators, you can cut small screens to fit. If Diane's garden is open to deer, I'd surround a special bulb collection with some extra protection; this year I lost many, many floweriing stems to deer that began to stick their heads right into the frames, apparently, and eat the highly nutritious scapes, flowers, and capsules at night. Next year I'll have to figure out how to drop some bird netting completely over the openings to prevent this. This year, no seeds except from the amaryllids and alliums. The arrangement would not deter rabbits, which even hopped into my bulb frames (which are high) this year. Yesterday I came across the peculiar Latin adjective cuniculosa (applied by Catullus to Spain), which means "full of rabbits," so I can now call the area where I live "Estacada cuniculosa." I'm repeatedly tempted to adopt a couple of greyhounds. This could be a very attractive feature. However, any time you have a dedicated bulb feature, you either have to plan it so most of the plants bloom around the same period, or you'll have a lot of withering leaves along with the flowers of the later-blooming sorts -- the situation in my bulb frames right now, where the themids (Brodiaea etc.; at least, the ones that didn't get eaten by the rabbits and deer) are in bloom among many plants that are going dormant. There is a certain naturalistic quality to this, but it's not pleasing otherwise. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA At 09:37 AM 6/7/2009, you wrote: >I'd like some ideas about what to plant in a new project. > >A neighbour left a pile of new red clay drain tiles (12 cm across by >30 cm long) at the roadside, with a sign saying "FREE". I took them >all because I thought they would be good for growing bulbs. I now >have them standing up, braced with some slightly larger red clay >chimney flues (20 cm square by 30 cm long), ready for planting. > >However, I'm not sure which of my many pots of bulb seedlings should