Eremurus don't last in my garden unless carefully protected during the summer. But given that consideration, they do well. I've seen masses of the small yellow one sold as bungei or stenophyllus in one local garden I know; but that site is on a 30 degree slope and presumably not prone to drainage problems. I've tried them in densely planted borders of other herbaceous plants, and they don't last - although they generally bloom once spectacularly before they disappear. The two I grow now - a huge pinkish one received as E. robustus and a big pale yellow one received as 'Romance' - do well in a raised bed covered with a pane of glass from early June (well before the foliage matures) until sometime in the autumn. The plant of 'Romance' is a rescue plant from another bed in the garden: it was declining there, and when I dug it the rootstock had diminished to a six inch starfish. After two years in the raised, summer-covered bed, it has increased in size dramatically. My experience suggests that under our conditions they definitely need help to get through our summers. Two other comments: Kelly O'Neill mentioned some difficulties in growing Eremurus from seed. Fresh seed germinates readily. The first year plant is a single, sharply angled leaf about two or three inches long with a root about the same size as the leaf. When the leaf dies down, you're left with a sort of little brown stick in the ground. Keep these dry during the summer (unless you're into natural selection and think you might thus get a moisture tolerant form). If most of them are dying for you, you are probably keeping them too moist during the summer. Also, for seedlings and mature plants watch out for late spring freezes. For plants which grow in the shadow of ice packed mountains, they are very intolerant of freezing temperatures once the leaves get going. John Bryan, in explaining the name Eremurus, gave the standard English dictionary derivation, solitary + tail. But for anyone exploring the culture of these plants, it's worth noting that the Greek word eremos means solitary only in a metaphoric sense; it's core meaning is wilderness, desert, wasteland - all good descriptions of the places where these plants grow. Jim McKenney Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where after a very slow start the Colchicum season is well underway. When the buds first appeared, we had a week of dull rainy and cloudy weather; when the flowers finally opened, they were some of the biggest and most richly colored I've ever seen. The tessellated sorts are glorious.