In Maine, your N. bowdenii will need to be kept indoors over winter. I tried some especially hardy Nerine bowdenii from Aad Koen in the Netherlands outdoors here. All one clone, and out of ca 30 bulbs lined out in the field, and mulched, maybe a half-dozen were there two years later. None ever bloomed in the ground, and we are USDA zone 5 here. So keep your Nerine bowdenii in pots in zone 5 or colder. If you want to see them eventually bloom, the flowers will come in Oct-Nov-Dec. Jim Shields At 12:10 PM 10/3/2012 +0100, Nick wrote: >Re John Grimshaw's reply.... you have to realise that he comes from 'up >north' and we come from 'down south'- up north they are a tough bunch, >whereas down south we are softies. This could also apply to the way the >plants react- our bowdeniis only appear in the autumn and winter and sleep >through the spring and summer- (up north winters are miserable affairs) - >curious though how several hundred miles makes a whole heap of difference. > > ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Lat. 40° 02.8' N, Long. 086° 06.6' W