Boyce asked: >> How difficult are they in containers? I would like to invite other growers to chime in, but here's my take: Calochortus range from the Canadian border to Mexico, and from California to Colorado. So you can find species for a variety of climates. But most of them are from California, and those are what I'd call particular but not difficult. In other words, if you give them the conditions they want, they are easy to grow in containers. But if you don't get the conditions right, they can be unforgiving. In general, most California-growing Calochortus will take the same conditions as winter bulbs from places like South Africa and Chile. If you grow winter-growing species bulbs like Moraea, Romulea, and Gladiolus, you can probably grow Calochortus. But you need to use deep pots and pay special attention to keeping them *totally* dry in summer. Specifically, they want: --Deep containers. You can grow them successfully in standard 8-inch / 20 cm pots (I've done it), but within a couple of years they dive deep in the pots. If they hit the bottom of the pot, they run out of growing room and will die the next year. People who dug them in the wild (I haven't done it) wrote of finding a long series of shed bulb cases underground, each one deeper than the one before. --Summer dryness. Some Calochortus species grow in areas that get a bit of summer moisture, but the big Mariposas I wrote about are very intolerant of any summer moisture. In the UK, you hear about growers leaving the pots out in the sun, under glass, to "cook" all summer. If you try that in California, where the sun is a lot hotter, you literally will cook the bulbs. Here you leave them in the shade and let them stay ruthlessly dry, with absolutely no rain or sprinkling from a hose, from dormancy until the rains start (late October/early November). --Good light and moisture in winter. Their light and water needs are very similar to mediterranean-climate bulbs. They need a well-drained mix (I use 50-50 peat and sand, with some inorganic bulb fertilizer). Do not skip the fertilizer, and do not use organic products like chicken manure as they encourage rot. As long as drainage is good they like a lot of moisture when in growth. They also like a lot of sun, which I suspect may be a challenge in some winter climates. --Cool conditions, but not frozen. Again, this is similar to other mediterranean bulbs. The ones I grow are very hardy to around 20F, but do not appreciate long periods of freezing. On the other hand, they seem happiest with winter coolness and good air circulation. Seedlings will damp off if they are too humid/warm. I suspect that in a heated greenhouse geared to tropicals you'd get rot. Some very beautiful Calochortus species come from the Great Basin area and are adapted to extreme winter cold. These grow like some Asian Tulips -- they want to be cold and dry in winter, and then in spring will grow very quickly, blooming in early summer before they go dormant. I can't grow them easily because I don't have enough winter cold, but for someone in a very cold winter climate they might actually be easier. The now-defunct Calochortus Society collected a huge amount of data on growing these things. They gave permission to reprint their findings, and you can read them on the PBS wiki here: http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… Hope that helps. Mike San Jose, CA