Jim W: I guess there's cold, and there's cold. Cold in Oswego NY was always mediated by a lovely blanket of snow, and there I grew Rhodohypoxis in the open garden for probably 10-12 years. Here in Shrewsbury (just east of Worcester, about an hour west of Boston) both last winter and this one have had pretty good snow cover, and that, I'm sure, is the key to getting marginal plants through the winter. I'm not super-optimistic about my little needle palm (Rhapidophyllum hystrix ) , but I'm hopeful that Eucomis comosa 'Peace Candles' will come roaring back (it did fine last winter, bloomed heavily in summer - it always was my most reliable eucomis), and based on last year's performance I don't need to worry about Albuca humilis (which, Alberto, I really did think was a little menace and therefore not a good thing to distribute...but if you insist...). The rhodohypoxis are growing by the many hundreds on my sloped front garden, among an indefensible assortment of yuccas, roses, asclepias, peonies, kniphofias, penstemons, solidagos, silphiums, tulips - well, you get the picture - chaos, but at least in their first full year there they thrived, and kept their foliage almost to the end of the season. I do worry about their longer-run success in the unnatural niche of understory groundcover (with its attendant summer shadiness), but I brought so many with me that they had to go where they went. If they're still there this spring I'll probably relocate some to more conventional, i.e. exposed, conditions. I will say that despite the shock of abandoning an established garden, creating a new one is an absolute joy. So many new things to learn and observe, so many new experiments, and gradually, as I give up some old attachments, so many new plants to try and old ones to stop growing and just remember fondly. O for spring! Ellen On Sat, Jan 25, 2014 at 8:18 PM, James Waddick <jwaddick@kc.rr.com> wrote: > > > > While I think of it, I wonder how many people have tried Rhodohypoxis > > baurii in cold gardens? I've found them to be very hardy, persistent and > > willing to multiply (more vegetatively than by seed, I think). > Dear Ellen, > > A total failure here in suburban Kansas City, but a short term > survival in town with a protected garden site. > > There’s so many lovely cvs too - a pity. Jim W. > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > -- Ellen Hornig 212 Grafton St Shrewsbury MA 01545 508-925-5147