On 3 Jun 06, at 10:20, Jane McGary wrote: > I've bought bulbs of Ixiolirion tataricum several times... > However, I've never managed to establish them in the garden. I > don't know whether the bulbs are badly affected by storage and > shipping, or whether they simply don't tolerate mild, wet winter > conditions (as might be true of a steppe plant). I have a patch here that flowers faithfully every year. I didn't plant it -- some former owner did, but he got the site exactly right. It's under a row of tall lodgepole pines where the soil is dry. Even in mid-winte it's dryish. Almost nothing else will grow there: Cyclamen hederifolium, usually a pretty tough plant, barely hangs on. Perhaps the very acid conditions in a bed of pine needles has something to do with the ixiolirion's success? And the site is pretty shady, too. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island