Brian, I've been growing and breeding eucomis for about ten years and here are a few observations taken in Zone 7 (East Tennessee): I dead-head those varieties that I don't want to go to seed. if I miss a seed head, I will typically have a bunch of seedlings there in a year or two. This tells me that the seeds survive brief excursions into the teens (F) even when they are lying on the ground. An unripe seed head might well be more vulnerable to freezing. For those seeds I plan to save, I watch the bloom spike and when the lowermost capsules start to split, I cut the whole stem and stick it in a paper bag. The whole thing finishes ripening and dries up, making it easy to extract the seeds. Some varieties are fairly self-sterile and others produce lots of seed with no human intervention. Some self-sterile ones produce copious seed if hand pollinated with other varieties. Some varieties, such as Sparkling Burgundy and related breeding, tend to make offsets prolifically. My intros, Red Planet and Purple Haze, e.g., will have a dozen offsets if left alone for a few years. the offsets are easily removed (mid April around here) and potted up or replanted. Those involving E. montana (e.g., Great White) tend to offset more slowly and develop fairly massive bulbs with only a few eyes, looking more like a potato. Those are carefully cut into pieces with a machete, so each has an eye and some roots. All types can be done using leaf props as well. I take mine in August and winter them in the greenhouse, and by spring the little plants can be moved into small pots on their own. My pole-evansii made about a dozen offsets this year, but when I dug it up, they were all sharing the same bulb and didn't have their own roots. I cut them all apart as carefully as possible, and watered sparingly until I saw root growth. I think they all survived. When a plant makes a second bloom late in the season (I have several blooming right now) when frost threatens I cut it and put in a vase. They will continue to bloom out, a bit more anemically as the winter progresses, but one was still feebly alive and blooming in March. Go figure. These are really tough plants. I haven't tried adding a bit of sugar to the water, but it probably wouldn't hurt as long as you don't add so much that it screws with the osmotic potential. I hope this is helpful. It's probably more than you wanted to know. Bob _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>