Building on what Nhu said... I've tried growing serpentine-loving Calochortus bulbs in serpentine soil in pots, and the result was almost immediate death for the bulbs. The serpentine turns into a soggy mess and the bulbs rot almost immediately. I don't know how they survive this in the wild, but I suspect there are pores in the soil that collapse when the soil is moved into a pot. Also, the ground stays a lot cooler than soil in a pot, and I suspect temperature may encourage bad microbes. Anyway, it definitely doesn't work. Cody, I don't want to be argumentative, but when you wrote this I was surprised: > I've had Calochortus bulbs from similar climates desiccate to death in porous soil in pots here in the Seattle summer I'm not sure what you mean by similar climates. If you mean Calochortus from the Pacific northwest, I guess maybe you could dessicate some of them to death if you really worked at it. But many Calochortus come from places that get five or more months of complete drought in summer and it's almost impossible to kill them with too much dryness even here in California. However, you can easily rot them with a single summer rain-shower or even a lot of high humidity. Pacific coast Lilies, on the other hand, are often vulnerable to drying out in summer. It depends on the species, but they're generally a lot more sensitive to dryness where I live. The ones that I grow here are in 50-50 peat and sand, in a plastic 8-inch pot that's in a shady spot and gets weekly water all summer long. That allows the lilies to survive. However, they have not bloomed for years, I suspect because I need to move them to a bigger pot. In general, the most important thing about soil seems to be getting a good combination of moisture-retentiveness and drainage. During the growing season you need to make sure the soil stays damp but that air can get to the roots at all times. The exact ingredients don't seem to matter as much as that balance. I hope that helps. Good luck! Mike San Jose, CA (Zone 9, min temp 20F / -7C) _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…