Thanks, Tony, I'll keep that in mind. When I buy plants, I'm one of those "one of each" guys (I think I can hear Jane laughing now). I grow them under controlled conditions until I learn how to grow them and can propagate them; then I move some into the open garden. There has not been a good track record with either wintergreen Arum or evergreen Asarum here so far in the open garden. Deciduous asarums thrive; evergreen asarums eventually disappear. It might take ten years, but eventually they go. I've tried various species from eastern North America and various Asian species. I've never known them to thicken up into handsome clumps here. I have friends only ten miles away who do well with both genera, but there is something about my garden which evidently does not suit them. I notice that when we bring up the topic of these marginal plants, there are rarely positive responses from north of here. Here in the greater Washington, D.C. area there is a strong NW to SE gradient in climate superimposed over the broader SW to NE zone 7 conditions. Gardens to the SE of my garden evidently experience much milder winter conditions based on the performance of marginal plants. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7, where Fritillaria raddeana is blooming handsomely. 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/