Mark wrote "Also, in memoriam, yesterday I dumped out a potted allium, unfortunately no longer with signs of life, once containing the Mexican A. traubii. It was a beautiful white and lavender late fall bloomer that I usually took inside to see the blooms, as the flowers surely could not survive the beginning of winter conditions. I grew the plant since 1999, so not a bad run with this rarity." Mark - you gave me a bulb of A. traubii about 4 years ago and I grew it in a pot for the first 2 years. It has been outside in my most protected bed since then and come through two winters unscathed. I just completely remade that bed and was pleased to find one good-sized, healthy bulb of A. traubii - it hasn't increased in number but is bigger. It went back into the same bed and now cohabits with the contents of about 300 pots of various treasures (mainly crocuses, dwarf colchicums, dwarf Juno irises etc.) that I've raised from seed and enjoyed in pots for the past couple of years. With a space crunch looming it was time to get them outside. I've never had seed on the allium but hopefully it will 'do' again this year - is it likely to increase vegetatively if it remains happy? Best, John John T Lonsdale PhD 407 Edgewood Drive, Exton, Pennsylvania 19341, USA Home: 610 594 9232 Cell: 484 678 9856 Fax: 801 327 1266 Visit "Edgewood" - The Lonsdale Garden at http://www.edgewoodgardens.net/ USDA Zone 6b