Returning to this thread after a busy week... In my experience any amaryllid that gets frozen solid in a pot (especially free-standing) in winter is a dead amaryllid. This is as true for Galanthus and Narcissus as it is for Nerine, Hippeastrum and Ismene. At best, the roots are lost and the shoot is able to make a small bulb, but if the basal plate is killed the plant is dead. I write as one who has had the responsibility of bringing a commercially very important crop of potted Galanthus through many winters, and have seen a lot of casualties in some. [The response of other bulbous taxa varies - some, such as tulips, seem more tolerant, but in general my comments are widely applicable.] Why hardy taxa such as Galanthus and Narcissus, and indeed N. bowdenii, which can withstand freezing in the ground, including freezing of the soil to the depth of at least their rooting zone, are so damaged in pots is a subject that interests me greatly. There is a clear difference in the degree of insulation between the ground and a pot; the cold penetrates an uninsulated pot much more quickly. Perhaps too, the water present in a pot is more confined as it freezes, creating greater pressure on plant parts. The well-known maxim of keeping plants on the dry side in winter certainly helps in minimising damage. Having seen innumerable cases of snowdrop bulbs lying on the surface and growing both roots and shoots perfectly happily through the recent hard winters (by UK standards), it is clearly not low temperatures alone that 'do in' such bulbs when potted. Free-standing pots are worst affected: in plunges they are much more secure, whether under cover or not - so long as the plunge is in contact with the ground. Many UK growers of bulbous plants in unheated alpine houses suffered huge losses in December 2010 when elevated plunge beds on staging froze solid. Even when frozen through the rooting zone the ground always seem to act as a buffer to the worst of the effects of freezing (in locally hardy plants: if tissue is frost sensitive it will be killed if it is frozen beyond its tolerance level). It's a complex issue, clearly, and an experimental approach would be useful - but if in doubt, don't let pots of bulbous plants freeze solid. John Grimshaw Visit John Grimshaw's Garden Diary http://johngrimshawsgardendiary.blogspot.com/ Dr John M. Grimshaw 1 Kirkhill Farm Settrington Malton North Yorkshire YO17 8NT Tel. 01944 768494