Dear Jim W. and all, I've been trying to stay out of this since you asked for responses from people in cold climates. There are a lot of Calochortus that come from very cold areas. You could probably grow them easier than some of us from mild climates. But you'd probably have to go the seed route. Diana wrote an excellent introduction to the cold ones a number of years ago. If you didn't save it, I still have it. Also there was a man who reported good success with a number of Calochortus in a cold climate that you'd never think he could grow. He buried them under quite a lot of straw. His climate was relatively dry in winter so he started them into growth later when the worst of the cold was over (kind of like dry under snow like a lot of them may be in the wild.) If you had wet cold winters without snow that might not work. One other comment. Calochortus, like a lot of other bulbs, sometimes chooses to stay underground so you may find you have more than you think in subsequent years. Hugh MacDonald once wrote he was amazed when he emptied out pots where nothing had grown to find there were bulbs there after all. I have been watching a spot where Calochortus vestae bloomed in the ground the last two years and was so disappointed it wasn't there. This week I see a stalk. Why the ones in pots emerged in December and this one now is a mystery. I also had some C. uniflorus appear in the ground this year from planting years ago that I had never seen. Speaking of vestae, I had a pink one in bloom this year from seed Bob Werra gave me. It starts out deep pink and fades to white. It's very beautiful. http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/… Mary Sue
