This year I’m making an effort to get all of my summer dormant bulb collection out of the ground (or out of their pots) for a census followed by storage in the house until they are replanted in late summer or early fall. It’s obvious that not all bulbs need the same summer treatment. For instance tunicated bulbs such as tulips generally store without problems while un-tunicated bulbs such as frits can be very touchy about moisture levels. In fact, in my experience Fritillaria are subject to injurious desiccation when stored dry and exposed to air. One potentially useful aid is the use of plastic bags. But I’ve learned the hard way that there is a right way to do it. Janis Ruksans in his Buried Treasures advises caution in the use of plastic bags, and he’s right: many bulbs will quickly rot if taken moist from the ground as they are entering dormancy and placed in plastic bags. But I’m convinced that frits need an artificial tunic if they are to withstand dry storage. For the big frits such as Fritillaria imperialis and F. persica, I wrap the individual bulbs in newspaper. This not only prevents too much drying, but the newspaper cushions the tender bulbs. For small frits I put them in envelopes of newspaper for two or three weeks, checking them occasionally to see how things are going. Once I’m convinced that they are no longer losing water and are thoroughly dry, I move them into plastic bags for the rest of the storage period. These plastic storage bags have several advantages, the most interesting one being that one can easily observe the bulbs as they undergo subtle changes during dormancy. They also make it easy to quickly spot problems such as mold or rot. And if the bulbs begin to look too dry, it’s easy to give them a light spritz of water. I think that to do this early in the storage period would kill them; but later in the summer it seems to help them. After reading the above, I realized that I’ve been puffing away as if I were an expert about this. But I’m still feeling my way, and luckily enjoying some successes. Don't take this as advice. I'm really just fishing for responses here: what do the rest of you do? I mentioned Janis Ruksan’s Buried Treasures above. I was lucky to meet and spend hours alone with Janis during the Washington, D.C. leg of his tour. I took a real liking to him. But now that I’ve spent some time with his book, I sincerely and respectfully wish his publisher had taken up Jane McGary’s offer to edit the book. The occasionally clumsy English is not the problem. A sympathetic, experienced, knowledgeable editor with a backbone would have avoided other infelicities, such as the irritating and seemingly irrelevant blocks of text touting plants easily available in the current trade. Whose idea was that? Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7, where seed is about to ripen on Sprekelia formosissima. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/