David, I have the same weather in Cologne, but my two P. emodi are planted at the base of wintergreens; a small Tr.fortunei palm and an Aucuba cv. This seems to help protect the buds and, due to the slightly increased shade of the evergreens, they do not sprout as early. I've noted that my Edinburgh clone has a very long bloom season and continues to set buds for about 2 months. Jamie V. Cologne > > The other problem is P. emodi. Whilst it comes from a cold place, like > many plants from the Sino-himalayan flora, it expects Spring to mean > Spring! That is, when the frosts stop, it expects them not to start again > till the following winter. That is not a situation we are used to in the > UK. Frosts sometimes stop in January/February and then come again in May > where I live. Indeed, we had a night only last week where temperatures > dropped to two degrees centigrade and there was a brief frost two week > before. The result is that P. emodi starts leafing up for the next year, > is hit by a frost and is defoliated. This weakens it and it often goes > through the cycle again in the same season. The result, only too easily, > is death! I have lost three in this way over the past five years. Today, > I have two, one in a pot, and the other came through last winter, but only > just: I had to keep a close eye on it each and every day from New Year > onwards to get it though. > > Best regards, > David Victor > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >