Jim, etal: Here are the results of our haemanthus trials. Did not survive winters here Haemanthus albiflos Haemanthus barkarae Haemanthus carneus Haemanthus carneus dwarf Haemanthus coccineus Haemanthus coccineus dark red stripe form Haemanthus deformis Haemanthus humilis ssp. hirsutus Haemanthus humilis ssp. humilis Cathcart E. Cape Form Haemanthus montanus Haemanthus montanus A1SA-057 Haemanthus pauculifolius Haemanthus sanguineus Alive since 2004 Haemanthus humilis ssp. humilis hairy form Tony Avent Plant Delights Nursery @ Juniper Level Botanic Garden 9241 Sauls Road Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 USA Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F USDA Hardiness Zone 7b email tony@plantdelights.com website http://www.plantdelights.com/ phone 919 772-4794 fax 919 772-4752 "I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of J.E. Shields Sent: Monday, November 29, 2010 10:20 AM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: Re: [pbs] Haemanthus Hardiness Paul, That's very interesting. As I recall from my grad school days there 50 years ago, it can get rather nippy in Berkeley in winter. I'm not ready to try Haemanthus outdoors in the ground here in Indiana just yet, but I think folks in zone 7 should look into this notion. I'd suggest trying Haemanthus montanus first. If it survives a couple of winters, then try things like albiflos (cheap and common), coccineus (relatively common), and humilis hirsutus (probably pretty cold-hardy). Plant the bulbs completely in the ground, with the tip of the bulb just at or slightly below the ground surface. I'd start off with them in a very well-drained soil. Jim Shields in central Indiana USA At 06:58 AM 11/29/2010 -0800, you wrote: >We have a diverse collection in the ground here in Berkeley and I don't >think we've lost any to frost in my 7 years here. It gets down to >mid-20s in the Garden and the leaves get very stiff. I'm sure this >doesn't approach the midwest/east coast. > >Paul Licht, Director >Univ. California Botanical Garden >200 Centennial Drive >Berkeley, CA 94720 >(510)-643-8999 >http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/ ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344