<One difficulty with fall-winter flowering crocuses is that the flower tubes of some species are very frail. This is especially the case with C. speciosus. Have a short spell of wind and rain, and all the tubes are broken, the flowers knocked over. The results are not sightly. The thing to do is grow C. speciosus in moderately rough grass, so the dry stems of the grass support the flowrs. There may be twiggy, low-growing shrubs that would do the job equally well, but I can't name any off the top of my head.> That's why Crocus niveus is so valuable outdoors - it has a large flower but also a very strong tube, so it stands up to the weather beautifully. Crocus robertianus behaves similarly. C. tournefortii flowers on a very short tube so also performs very well. J. Dr John T Lonsdale, 407 Edgewood Drive, Exton, Pennsylvania 19341, USA Home: 610 594 9232 Cell: 484 678 9856 Fax: 801 327 1266 Visit "Edgewood" - The Lonsdale Garden at http://www.edgewoodgardens.net/ USDA Zone 6b