I'm with John and Jane on this, traitorously abandoning both my fellow Jims. And I don't even ship Galanthus. I occasionally ship a few other bulbs, but I never see those again after I seal the boxes. I do repot and dig, divide, and replant lots of other bulbs. It's my observation that bulbs transplant best just before they are ready to start growing again. That is, I repot/divide just before there are outward signs of new root or leaf growth starting, very near the end of dormancy. At that time, the hormonal flush that initiates new growth and the end of dormancy is in full swing. The bulbs are primed to grow, regardless of the disturbances they endure. I suspect that Galanthus are for some reason particularly well suited to withstand the stress of being bashed in the midst of their active growth phase. Moving "in the green" would probably do irreparable harm to most other bulbs. I think Galanthus survive this process (I almost wrote "barbaric") because they can, not because it is the best way to handle them. Spoken as an outsider looking in on the weird world of snowdrops. Jim Shields in snowy central Indiana, USA where Galanthus are not a big thing probably because our weather is always impossibly bad when they bloom. At 09:08 AM 12/21/2010 -0800, you wrote: >I completely agree with John Grimshaw that Galanthus should be shipped >dormant............ > >Jane McGary >Portland, Oregon, USA ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344