Hi all, I live in a cold wet climate in winter and hot and either wet or dry in summer -- usually a bit of all. Those bulbs needing winter dry or summer dry are hard to keep going unless planted in carefully selected sites. Trilliums are native here, and T. recurvatum is probably the commonest trillium in Indiana. I have it from at least two locations. I've added TT. grandiflorum, flexipes, cernuum, and nivale among the natives, but these are mostly from commercial sources. I've added TT. cuneatum, erectum, luteum, vaseyi, simile, and sessile this spring, all from commercial sources. I'm not brave enough to try the West Coast Trillium species here. Crocuses, Scilla, Chionodoxa, many irises, lots of trumpet daffodils, etc., are the mainstays of spring bulbs and are hardy here. Tulips are a waste of time and money -- you have to grow them as annuals. Some of the crocuses may be eaten by rodents of course. Lycoris, Colchicum, Crocus speciosus, and the hardy Hymenocallis occidentalis are the late summer and autumn flowering bulbs here. You can't have too many of them as the garden is otherwise rather burned out in appearance come the end of July. I like especially Lycoris chinensis, longituba, and sprengeri. L. squamigera is the only commonly seen Lycoris in Indiana, but the other three are quite hardy here and very rewarding to grow. I also have Bulbocodium vernum in bloom now. These bulbs are under high shade in a sandy bed at the base of a tree. Planted in October, 2001, they have survived two winters outdoors in the ground and bloomed both springs. I planted one Merendera, M. sobolifera, in my raised-bed rock garden. A couple pieces of it seemed to have survived the first winter (2001-2002), although they did not bloom. It may have succumbed during this past winter. Nevertheless, I'm tempted to try some other Merendera species too. Sternbergia lutea has survived outdoors in the ground in several locations. It comes back and blooms. You should try it if you live in USDA zone 5b or milder. Corydalis surviving and now blooming or starting to bloom around the woodland garden include CC. kusnetzovii, angustifolia 'Georgian White', turczaninowii, and paczoskii. C. solida 'Beth Evans' and 'George P. Baker' are flourishing in the woodland garden, of course. C. solida naturalized in a woodland area farther back are also doing well. Disappointing (at least in their first try here) were CC. schanginii schanginii and schanginii ainae, as well as glaucescens. I think their location, in full sun, was in too heavy a clay soil. Corydalis bracteata has been here for several years, but seems to be dwindling slowly. I plan to buy more bracteata from Ruksans and try them in different locations. I'm trying various hardy Arisaema, including sikokianum, ringens, thunbergii, serratum, and urushima as well as others that I've not yet seen go through a full year. A. sikokianum has bloomed the past two springs, and I'm waiting to see if it comes back again this spring. Arisaema sazensoo has not done particularly well here, and it is probably not going to come back this year. Of course, AA. dracontium and triphyllum are native here and perfectly hardy. I'll have more to say about cold hardy bulbs as the spring progresses and I can see more of what has survived and what has not. Regards, Jim Shields in central Indiana At 07:18 AM 3/31/03 -0800, you wrote: >Dear All, > >Someone asked for a topic on bulbs that survived frozen ground. A number >of you have been reporting spring is at last coming although I saw on the >weather channel that snow has still been coming too. But now seems like a >good week for this topic when spring is officially here although it has >been looking like spring in California for months. Judy Glattstein is >writing a book on naturalistic gardening with bulbs and has kindly >provided us with an introduction for this topic below. > >Mary Sue Ittner >TOW Coordinator ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. +1-317-896-3925 Member of INTERNATIONAL CLIVIA CO-OP