I received a gift of several Sternbergia lutea a few years ago, foliage still green, but bulbs bare. I planted them in two different spots in our SW Ohio clay, unamended. They have flourished. I don't think we are particularly limey. One group is on flat ground on the edge of a patch of pachysandra, the other at the top of a slope. I would say from my experience that Sternbergia is not fussy. Bill Lee