Hi all, Part 2 of hardy bulbs in my back yard. As a group, the Brodiaea, Dichelostemma, and Triteleia are seriously neglected in gardens in this part of the world. Many of them appear to be quite hardy here. I have most of mine growing in a bed where the soil is mostly clay and is permeated with roots of trees of Staghorn Sumac. They are on the east side of a line of these small trees, so they get lots of morning sun and some early afternoon sun as well. Water does not stand here, and I rarely water the bed in dry weather. Dichelostemma congestum is doing well here. Its tall white spheres of star-like flowers appear in early summer. Brodiaea californica does well too, as does B. purdyi. B. coronaria was grown from seeds from Northwest Native Seeds. I planted the bulbs out in my raised rock garden last autumn, and they are coming up now. I've not tried this one in the regular beds yet; it was said to be quite tender, but my seeds came from cooler sites. Triteleia are the real gems, however. The well known T. laxa 'Queen Fabiola' (or 'Koenigin Fabiola') with dark blue flowers in early summer is growing and blooming in several different locations here. T. ixioides scabra from the High Sierra also blooms and flowers, and sets seeds here in the Sumac bed. It's light yellow flowers are star-like and have a dark midrib stripe. T. bridgesii is doing fine, as is T. hyacinthina, both in the same bed with the sumancs. T. dudleyi seems to be surviving in another bed, and so is T. x tubergenii. I have tried to start with the hardiest in these experimental plantings, but I think we should try more species from this group too. Claytonia virginica is naturalizing here, as it is a native. Another Claytonia has appeared where I dumped some old pots of ungerminated seeds. C. virginica has narrow linear leaves; these volunteers have leaves that are wider in the middle, tapering both directions from there to pointed ends. Then there is a succulent or rock garden Claytonia that we should try here too. I'd be interested in how the other species of Claytonia are doing for folks in their gardens. Eremurus seem to be short-lived perennials here, but worth trying. I planted some of the Shefford hybrids, and two out of 4 lived for several winters. I need to get more. Eranthis is settling down in my woodland garden and has finally started to seed itself around a bit. I hope it naturalizes more. Fritillaria -- there have been plenty of comments on frits recently. I generally find them tough to keep alive. Gladiolus are not usually considered hardy, but the Eurasian species are quite reliable here. GG. communis byzantinus, illyricus, italicus, and best of all, imbricatus, are hardy here and bloom reliably. Even the common garden shop hybrid glads may come back occasionally for a year or two. A form of G. italicus known as G. caucasicus seems to me to have a much prettier flower than G. italicus. Hymenocallis caroliniana (or occidentalis) is a hardy spider lily that ranges from the Gulf of Mexico northward along the Mississippi River and into the Ohio River as far as southern Illinois and southwestern Indiana. It now lives and blooms in my garden here in central Indiana too, flowering at the end of July or first week in August. The name(s) applied to this species and its relatives have resulted in horticultural confusion. Check in Thad Howard's book or in the Flora of North America. Ipheion uniflorum and other varieties are fairly hardy here too. I need to try Rolf Fiedler outdoors in the ground this autumn! Kniphofia should be hardy here, at least a few of the species and many of the hybrids could be. My K. northiae survived the winter in the raised rock garden bed. I'm not sure about K. hirsuta yet -- it survived the previous winter in the rock garden. K. caulescens in a garden bed did not, although it survived the previous 3 winters there and even bloomed last summer. KK. citrina, sarmentosa, and stricta only survive where very well protected, which in my case means around the south and east sides of my greenhouse, and mulched well in winter. Nerine bowdenii is often cited as marginally winter-hardy in USDA zone 6. I have not tested this, but I planted some out in a nursery row last June and found that they did not survive my summer very well! Brent & Becky Heath have N. undulata outside their office window in Virginia (USDA zone 7, probably) and it has survived and bloomed in the ground there over the years. I have just stuck a few bulbs of Nerine angulata and of my hybrid N. [filifolia X krigei] into my raised bed rock garden for their coming trial by frost and freeze. I would like to hear more comments from others on their experiences with Nerine varieties outdoors in colder climates. Sternbergia lutea are so far looking very satisfactory here. They do better at flowering when in a sandy loam, but they seem to survive even in a clay loam bed that is mostly clay. They bloom at a time of year, late summer to autumn, when any flowers are very much appreciated. Trillium is native here in the Great Lakes region, and T. recurvatum is the most common here in central Indiana. It does very well in my woodland garden. I've added TT. grandiflorum, flexipes, catesbaei, luteum, and several others just this year. I have not tried the West Coast (of North America) species yet. It is a woodland genus and you need a shade garden for its members to prosper. These should all be quite hardy here, but the Southern and Western USA species may be more of a challenge in the colder parts of the Midwest. My comments have almost all dealt with marginally hardy plants growing outdoors here. I have to agree with Boyce that Narcissus and most Iris are terrific plants for cold climates, and that most Tulipa are a waste of time and money (even if Boyce was too diplomatic to put it that way!) Indeed, it is the wasted time that annoys me the most. Zantedeschia is one that we need to explore further for hardiness. I planted two large seedlings of Z. aethiopica 'Green Goddess' out in a bed last summer. I have been growing small seedlings of Zantedeschia species in pots in coldframes over the winter; I don't yet know whether any of them made it through this past winter. If they have, I'll put half of them out there in the ground this summer and leave over the winter. I've ordered some hybrid callas from the mass market catalogs to try outdoors in the ground here this coming winter. I've heard of and have received a few tubers of Zantedeschia cultivars that survive in the ground in zone 7 and seemingly even in USDA cold zone 6. None have made it for me yet; however, that may be because I mistreated them too much before they were eventually planted. Jim Shields in central Indiana (USA) ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. +1-317-896-3925 Member of INTERNATIONAL CLIVIA CO-OP