Paul, That's very interesting. As I recall from my grad school days there 50 years ago, it can get rather nippy in Berkeley in winter. I'm not ready to try Haemanthus outdoors in the ground here in Indiana just yet, but I think folks in zone 7 should look into this notion. I'd suggest trying Haemanthus montanus first. If it survives a couple of winters, then try things like albiflos (cheap and common), coccineus (relatively common), and humilis hirsutus (probably pretty cold-hardy). Plant the bulbs completely in the ground, with the tip of the bulb just at or slightly below the ground surface. I'd start off with them in a very well-drained soil. Jim Shields in central Indiana USA At 06:58 AM 11/29/2010 -0800, you wrote: >We have a diverse collection in the ground here in Berkeley and I don't >think we've lost any to frost in my 7 years here. It gets down to mid-20s >in the Garden and the leaves get very stiff. I'm sure this doesn't >approach the midwest/east coast. > >Paul Licht, Director >Univ. California Botanical Garden >200 Centennial Drive >Berkeley, CA 94720 >(510)-643-8999 >http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/ ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344