Ha Ha Jim, our coldest winter was minus 8 Centigrade for ten nights when I lived in the west of Scotland. A few years ago I was working in England at temperatures of 34 centigrade in the shade. My dormant bulbs coped with that and when one remembers that many of them are from much more extreme and continental climates it is not surprising. See the pbs wiki for Fritillaria raddeana http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashhad/ and this page for some climate data on Khorassan province, NE Iran http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashhad/ an air conditioned building might be OK for dormant Fritillaria raddeana in Summer but to chill it in a refrigerator before it has started rooting in Autumn seems very odd to me -when I think of it's home climate. On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 2:49 PM, Jim McKenney <jamesamckenney@verizon.net>wrote: > Too funny, Peter. > > Scotland IS a refrigerator, isn't it? > > In Maryland, the only "cellar or other cool place" would be in an air > conditioned building - or in the refrigerator. >