Mary Sue et al., About 5 years ago I planted some Scoliopus bigelovii in the garden here, under deciduous trees on a south facing slope that gets dry in the summer (I water every 10 days or so when certain indicator plants wilt). Erythronium, anemonella and a host of other woodlanders thrive in these situations. A couple of years ago I thought they had all gone but was surprised to find two huge leaves still happily growing last spring. They have withstood temperatures as low as 2F with inconsistent snow cover. They do very well in Jim McClements garden an hour from here, which is a zone 7 garden. I also have plants in the greenhouse in pots in my one-size-fits-all compost - 50% BioComp BC5 and 50% perlite - and they are just growing out now. I plant the growing points just below the compost surface. These pots get dry but not desiccated in the summer under the benches. They certainly do have contractile roots that look just like those of trillium and crocus. A few years ago I grew a batch of S. hallii from seed. After 3 years I have a few left but lost most because I let them get too dry in the summer. Ron Ratko's seeds arrived yesterday - all 80 packets requested plus 11 freebies. His are quite the best seeds I've ever had - consistently interesting, good quantities, well named, high quality and high percentage germination. J. Dr John T Lonsdale, 407 Edgewood Drive, Exton, Pennsylvania 19341, USA Home: 610 594 9232 Cell: 484 678 9856 Fax: 801 327 1266 Visit "Edgewood" - The Lonsdale Garden at http://www.edgewoodgardens.net/ USDA Zone 6b