Dear Katherine and Mark, I should think you could grow Sandersonia in Vermont. When it is dormant in winter, I leave mine dry in the pot and it has worked. So if you had a basement or some place you could store the pot where it wouldn't be too cold I would imagine that it would be fine. Mark is growing his in Connecticut, but in a greenhouse. Perhaps he can tell you what he does too. As I said before mine worked fine as a house plant the first time I flowered it. I planted the tubers late August, they came up in September, bloomed in November, went dormant. I replanted them in spring and then they bloomed the following July. They were very quickly changed to the new hemisphere. Hopefully Rachel will say what the disease was. I believe it was fungal, but can't find her message to me to verify this. They were growing great quantities of them and lost a lot one year. Mary Sue