On 31 Jan 04 at 8:33, diana chapman wrote: > My problem with Scoliopus is getting it past the one and two year > seedling stage. It is besieged by slugs and snails... In the > forests locally where Clintonia andrewsiana and Scoliopus bigelovii > are fairly common, you rarely see any slug or snail damage to the > leaves even though slugs especially are abundant (and VERY large - > six inches at least). The destructive slugs found in gardens are exotics from Eurasia. There are a number of such species, one of the worst being Arion ater, a black slug that can be uncommonly voracious. The native banana slugs are generally not interested in our garden plants. Ditto for snails, esp. the European ground snail, which is very common in California. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island