In a message dated 13-Feb-04 7:54:35 AM Pacific Standard Time, jwaddick@kc.rr.com writes: > L. squamigera, one of the hardiest with 3n=27 The is frequently grown in and about the southernmost reaches of Imperial Russian Siberia -- aka Minnesota -- solidly UDSA Zone 4 and survives nicely, thank you! I grew it in both a suburban garden and in a farm field North of the Twin Cities where it had nothing to protect itself from the January deep freeze but a barbed wire fence. I cheated a bit, however, by letting the weed growth stay in the fall. This two feet (+/-) acted as a most efficient snow catch with the result that if there was any amount of snow, the frequent winter winds would just blow the loose snow into the catch where it piled up and insulated anything underneath. While I didn't have that in the former suburban garden, there was usually a winter mulch of several inches of straw to help stave off the worst of that lethal winter cold in those years where snow was scarce. I doubt that either of the people who bought our former properties have gone to any extra trouble with this Lycoris. It wouldn't surprise me one bit that this one grows and blooms there still in both places. Oh!, that it were only fertile!!! Dave Karnstedt Silverton, OR (absolutely tropical, compared to the weather I left behind in MN!!)