Mary Sue, thanks for all the information on Aristea. It’s a genus on my “try it one of these days” list. The best candidates for me will probably be the dwarfish ones – I’ll be able to keep those in the cold frame during the winter. All this Aristea talk had me check out the wiki entries on the genus. I had seen photos of A. ecklonii in the past, but they didn’t impress me much. But the various species, including A. ecklonii, on the wiki are very handsome. I’m surprised that the big ones are not used more often in gardens. Am I missing something? By the way, I guess I have to say that I really don’t approve of the extreme measure you and Bob took to get photos of Aristea lugens. Did you set the fires on an earlier trip and then return later to get photos of the plants in bloom? There must have been a local co-conspirator, right? Wow, you must be big believers in the smoke treatment! Suppose you had been caught? What are South African jails like? As fragile as some of those ecosystems are, I'm really ashamed of you! : ) 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/