Thanks, Arnold. And now I wonder if you have not indavertantly told me more than you realize. Here's what I mean. All of my life I've had Fritillaria imperialis in the garden on and off - with one exception always from recently purchased bulbs. And that exception, and a possible explanation for its success, may tie into your experience with Lilium modadelphum. The big frits almost always rot here within a year or two of planting. I say almost always because once, just once, one established itself here and grew for perhaps over twenty years. It was received under the old cultivar name Aurora. For the first ten years or so it produced stems without flowers. Then it began to bloom yearly. At its best it was about four feet tall and had individual flowers easily three inches long. Here's the tie-in with your lily: the frit grew under Fagus sylvatica. I wonder... When the call comes for favorite red-flowered geophytes, I'll post a photo of a lily you might enjoy. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@staropwer.net Montgomery County, Maryland, zone 7, just north of Washington, D.C.