It’s always intriguing to me to hear other gardeners explain their successes and failures. Most of us have one or two major circumstances which greatly influence the bulbs we grow. For me, that major circumstance is too much water during the period when summer dormant bulbs are ripening. When I was a young gardener, I thought the major circumstance was winter hardiness. One other circumstance for me is acid clay soil: it’s obvious that many bulbs originate in areas with porous, high calcium soils, usually neutral or alkaline. As a result, when I try to explain my successes and failures, my explanations are apt to be in terms of those three main issues: excess moisture when the bulbs are ripening, winter hardiness and soil. For me, one of the real eye-openers which came with participation in this forum is a new sense of the adaptability of most bulbs: many of the bulbs I grow can withstand conditions never realized in my garden. One thing this has taught me is this: take with a generous grain of salt reports based on experience in climates different than my own. And with that in mind, I try to preface any suggestions I might make with a caveat about “under my conditions” or something similar. For instance, Mary Sue has Brodiaea, Triteleia, Dichelostemma and the like probably coming up in her grass (do you have any grass, Mary Sue?). Yet she has problems with Ixiolirion. I on the other hand am just able to squeek by with many of the Californian plants, and for me they seem to respond best to the sort of conditions I suspect Ixiolirion needs in my climate. It should surprise no one that what works for me does not work for Mary Sue and visa versa: after all, we’re in different worlds in terms of growing conditions. I mentioned the uncertainty of Allium caeruleum in the garden in my climate, yet for Jane McGary it‘s a reliable garden plant. I have to jump through hoops to keep it going (hoops in this case being protection from summer rain). Reflecting on reports from other parts of the country often leads me to speculation about the requirements of various plants. In particular, there are circumstances each of us has, circumstances which influence our successes and failures, yet circumstances we might not even realize. Soil temperature is one I’m trying to focus on more and more now. Some plants require high soil temperatures during dormancy: these are the ones which are apt to be poor performers in cool summer areas. Others have certain chill requirements. It’s interesting to me that horticulture and agriculture in general seem to have recognized the importance of temperature during winter dormancy long before the significance of temperature during summer dormancy was recognized. Another neglected factor is day length. Martagon lilies are evidently adapted to very long days during their period of above-ground growth. The gross observation is that they flourish better far north of Maryland. From that, most observers have concluded that they are cold adapted. But perhaps the explanation for their halting growth here in Maryland has to do with our comparatively short late-spring, early-summer days (compared, for instance, to the day length in Sweden or comparable latitudes in Canada where martagon lilies thrive). The day length here begins to shorten after the spring solstice; but if you go far enough north, days longer than any we ever experience characterize the summers. Another thing I’m beginning to wonder about is this: will summer dormant bulbs which have ripened properly and experienced the proper desiccation withstand soil moisture in the period between proper ripening and initiation of autumnal root growth? Bulbs when dug here are seeming heavy with moisture. During the first week or two of storage, it’s important for the storage conditions to allow free evaporation of moisture. Fat juicy summer dormant bulbs taken from the ground and put directly into zip lock bags are apt to turn into a stinking mushy soup before you know it. But once stored under airy conditions and properly ripened, are they more tolerant of moist warm conditions? That’s something I mean to find out. And has anyone noticed that the largest bulbs of tulips are the ones most likely to rot? I’ve wandered far from the Ixiolirion issue, and have not mentioned one of the cardinal rules I try to observe when puzzling out why things die: make a point of determining exactly when the plant in question died. If we plant a bulb in the autumn, see it bloom in the spring, and then don’t think about it until it does not reappear the following year, that leaves a lot of time and changing circumstances unaccounted for. The hypothesis I’m proposing is that Ixiolirion is dying in June: it would not surprise me to find that the bulbs are rotting as the plants bloom. I dug some from my garden (in the garden, not in a raised or protected bed) a few weeks ago and found some rotters (and some sound bulbs). Next year they are going into a raised bed under cover. And I think Mary Sue is on to something with her speculation about a need for winter cold. Some bulbs stored dry and cool during the winter here grew when planted in the spring but gave a very poor harvest. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 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/