On 27 Jan 05 at 17:35, Mary Sue Ittner wrote: > I've been trying to grow Scoliopus bigelovii for years... > I once heard someone who was growing it say that it needed > to be kept absolutely dry during summer. My experience doing this > has resulted in plants that although they have survived have not > advanced at all. When I dumped the soil out to see if there was > anything there I could barely make out some thin roots. > > Ian Young ... advised year round water and a very deep pot for the > extensive root structure. This makes sense to me since most of the > ones I've seen in the wild are close to water and could go down very > far to get to the water table during their summer dormancy. > Certainly the root structure that others have described did not > match my plants that may have been desiccated in their dry soil > without water for many months. This sounds similar to the methods used by some of the experts to grow cyclamen species in containers: very deep pots sitting in about 1/4" water during the summer. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island