Ha! You caught me, Jane. What I meant was virtually alone among lilies which we can grow in our gardens here on the east coast. You are so right about the western lilies. I have been hoping you or some other west coast grower would have something to say about the so-called dry-land western lilies such as Lilium kelloggii, L. bolanderi, L. rubescens and L. washingtonianum. In my experience, none of the west coast lilies is easy here. Even L. pardalinum and its various hybrids/forms seem challenged by what my garden has to offer. Until I saw the photos in Rix and Phillips of Lilium kelloggii growing in the wild, I had no idea that they grew in what, from my east coast perspective, I would call semi-desert conditions. Years ago a friend gave me some freshly collected seed of Lilium washingtonianum. I eventually had several hundred seedlings in a coldframe. Having read that this species grows in forests, I had started them in a shaded coldframe. The frame was left open during our wet, humid summer. That was the last I ever saw of them - not one survived the summer. For those of us here in the east, it's very difficult to understand how the requirements of Lilium washingtonianum differ from, for instance, those of the so-called wet land lilies such as L. maritimum, L parvum and so on. From my experience, these don't like our east coast wet summers either. They rot or sulk in my bog trays. So I hope anyone out there who is growing these successfully will chime in and give some pointers on their management. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where we are about to enter the most punishing season of our year, when the temperatures don't cool off at night and the days get hotter and more humid weekly.