Dear all, I've also given this topic a try, expanding into various things over the years. I live in Washington, DC, zone 7b, where we have both hot, humid summers and relatively cold winters. Summers and winters can be either wet or dry, while we usually have good rainfall in spring & fall. While recent winters have been extremely mild, the one from which we're just emerging was more typical. I believe our lowest temperature was 15ºF/-9.5ºC. Most of the very cold weather was unaccompanied by snowfall. I have neither a greenhouse, a garage nor an ideal house situation for overwintering tender bulbs. I'm in a rowhouse that faces east/west, and is blocked to the north/south by adjoining houses. Therefore, I concentrate on what's hardy under the local conditions. Having said that, I have found that I'm able to grow various plants not considered hardy. I believe Jim Waddick mentioned Hippeastrum X johnsonii. This past winter has proven that it can shrug off a real zone 7 winter in the ground. While new growth hasn't yet begun, a quick check of the bulb showed it to be firm and healthy, not the mush I've found in other cases. Other Hippeastrums are grown in pots that are plunged into the garden from about mid-April through the first frost warning, usually sometime in November. They overwinter and bloom in the east-facing windows on the second floor. While they may not get as much light as they'd like there, they survive - and have flowered every winter, sometimes producing a second set of flowers in the garden in May. Various Achimenes hybrids have done well in the total shade of a bit of soil between the back sidewalk and the south neighbor's brick garage, where they get no direct sunlight but bloom like mad from midsummer until very cool weather arrives. Just before or after the first frost hits I collect the scaly rhizomes and put them in the fridge for the winter in perforated plastic bags. Some kind of mold always seems to grow on them, but it doesn't affect their vitality when they're replanted the following spring. Perhaps allowing them to dry for a few days would solve the mold problem? I tried a potted Griffinia aracensis outside in the same shade for the first time last year. It suffered from a couple of squirrel attacks, but it also seemed like something was attacking the leaves, which never seemed to stay around for a long time, though the plant produced more regularly. When temps threatened to go below 50ºF/10ºC I took it indoors. Having just suffered a final squirrel nip, it had no leaves at all. After about 6 weeks indoors foliage production resumed, and the leaves produced in December are still on the plant. It likes its situation in the east-facing window behind double panes of glass so much that I'm going to try leaving it there, as whatever had attacked the foliage outside is absent under inside conditions. A few years ago I got some Scilla peruviana from a Dutch supplier. Following directions, I planted it 5 or 6 inches (12 to 15 cm) under the ground. It emerges every fall, though by that time its area receives no direct sunlight. The foliage suffers some damage in the cold winter temps, but so far both bulbs have bloomed every year in May. If it's found partially above ground in the wild, I must say that being buried seems to agree with it as well. The pot of Clivia miniata comes inside when temps threaten to go below freezing, but the plant seems to enjoy sometimes very cool weather in spring and fall. After taking a year off to adjust, it has bloomed every year in late spring or early summer. I know that I've gotten much different results than others with the Hieronymiella aurea that was distributed last year around this time, another tender bulb. I believe I got the same large, flat black seeds as everyone else. What I did with them may have been different - and this does concern overwintering lest readers think I'm straying from the topic. I only had 2 plants that really took off. One I planted out in the garden. The other I kept under lights in the basement. The garden plant had trouble keeping foliage up, just as with the Griffinia. The plant indoors under lights in a relatively cool basement grew much better, faster, and kept its leaves. When fall came I potted up the tiny bulb outside and brought it under the lights inside for the winter. Neither bulb has gone dormant during the winter, having continued to actively grow instead. The bulb previously outside has made several times the progress it made outdoors last spring and summer inside over the winter. Both have long leaves about an inch wide, unlike the "thread-like" foliage appearance others have noted. They don't mind being dry at all, and staying moist doesn't seem to hurt them either. I also started various Rhodophialas from BX seed last spring, and have grown them inside under lights over the winter. R. granatiflora germinated best, likely 100%, and has grown especially well inside. Some R. advena went dormant, others didn't. Flowering sized bulbs of Rhodophiala bifida survive well in the open garden, where they've dug themselves down to a depth of 8 inches/20 cm, which is well below the frost line. The foliage is damaged by winter conditions, but the plant doesn't seem to mind, simply growing more as the weather improves toward spring. Amaryllis belladonna survives outside the same way, although the depth at which it's planted seems more critical. While the surviving plant does better every year, it has yet to bloom for me. With a bit of experimentation and luck, even under less than ideal conditions tender bulbs can be grown, and even flourish, here in zone 7b. Mark